


i don't wanna miss you (i don't have the time)

by jennycaakes



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Coping, Drinking, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Healing, Modern Era, Moving On, Summer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2020-02-03
Packaged: 2020-12-24 12:01:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 51,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21099131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jennycaakes/pseuds/jennycaakes
Summary: It's not that Gale and Katniss were together, but maybe he was still kind of in love with her when he found out (on Facebook, of all fucking places) that she was with someone else. Thankfully he has some great friends (and not some great friends) to help him sort out the confusing feelings that come with that. Madge is one of them.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> what's this?? a gadge piece??? you can't be serious, jenn, really? here in this year of 2019?! 
> 
> yes, my friend, here in this year of 2019. suzanne collins announced her prequel and the gadge gears in my head kicked into overdrive. why did they kick into overdrive on something completely new instead of one of my old unfinished pieces, you wonder? i have no clue!
> 
> enjoy some modern gadge. this is mostly crack. i probably took too many liberties with the characters but it's been fun to try and figure them out all over again. i should've started with in-verse gadge to get myself back in the feel of it but, here we are! please be gentle. i hope you like it
> 
> alternate title of fic (like every fic i've ever written) could be: feelings are hard, folks
> 
> (real title from yog$'s san francisco)

Gale found out on Facebook.

He didn’t even really _use _Facebook anymore it was just one of those apps he kept in his phone so he had something to scroll through when he was bored. He sat, mindless, scrolling and not really reading the posts, until he saw it. 

**♥****  
Katniss Everdeen **and **Peeta Mellark  
**are now **in a relationship**. 

Gale stared at the update for a long time before it processed what he was reading. He checked who liked the post, read some of the comments, and then sent a screenshot to his group chat that said _What the fuck is going on?_

Finnick called immediately. Gale almost didn’t answer. He wasn’t a fan of phone calls and his chest had started doing this awful clenching thing that was making it harder for him to breathe. But Gale answered anyway, too afraid of the silence in his apartment. 

“Yeah?”

“Didn’t she tell you?” Finnick responded at once.

“Didn’t she tell me?” Gale echoed. “Didn’t she tell me what?”

Finnick was silent on the other side. “That they were dating.” Quieter. “For weeks, now.” 

“Weeks now.” He thought about it and shook his head. “No, I’m pretty fucking sure I would’ve remembered if Katniss told me she was dating someone.”

Finnick was silent on the other end, maybe because Gale’s words came out sharper than he’d intended. It wasn’t Finnick’s fault that Gale’s best friend whom he was also in love with didn’t feel the need to tell him she’d moved on entirely. 

He and Katniss had spent most of high school dating, were on and off through college, and completely broke things off a few months ago. Or rather Katniss completely broke things off. But they’d grown up together, spent _years _committed to one another. It was easy to stay friends and easier for Gale to convince himself that once Katniss sorted out more of her shit then they’d be able to patch things up for real. Actually make something work between the two of them now that they were adults. 

She was very easily still Gale’s best friend. They spoke nearly every day and never once had Peeta even been _mentioned_. 

“Have you talked to her since?” Finnick asked.

“Have I talked to her since she updated her Facebook status five hours ago saying that she and Mellark are in a relationship? What the fuck do you think?”

Finnick sighed. “Breathe for a sec, Gale.”

_No_, he wanted to snap. 

It wasn’t just the part of him that was in love with Katniss, the stubborn bit that had been clinging to the hope of the two of them finding one another again at some point, that felt broken. She was his best friend. Despite everything, he thought they told each other things. 

Apparently not.

“I still have feelings for her,” Gale eventually said. He knew he needed to. Both so Finnick would understand where he was at but also because Gale needed to hear it to recognize that it was still true. And it was. 

“Oh.” Gale sighed and so did Finnick. “Well that’s not great.” Then a few beats later, “You didn’t know about Peeta at all?”

He knew that Katniss and Peeta had been friends in college. He knew that Katniss and Peeta both ended up living in the same area after. He just didn’t know that they were talking again at all, so to see that they were _in a relationship _was like a slap in the face. It felt like Katniss had been hiding Peeta from him.

Maybe she had. 

“No,” Gale answered. He didn’t even know Katniss was looking for something like that. “Fuck. Is it serious?” 

Finnick would know. He and Peeta were close.

“Gale,” Finnick said gently. She’d definitely been keeping this a secret. “Maybe call Kat.”

“No, tell me.” Finnick sighed. “_Fuck_,” Gale said again. No way could he call Katniss. He’d been hopelessly pining after a woman that he hadn’t even realized had completely moved on. The fantasy of he and Katniss reconnecting down the road and falling back in love with one another had been one that only lived in Gale’s head. Words tumbled out of him before he could filter them, “There’s never going to be anyone else like her.” 

“That isn’t true,” Finnick rushed, but the second Gale had said the words he felt his chest crack and all of the ache inside of him came flooding out. 

It was true. How he felt for Katniss could never be recreated with another person. Not that he’d never find a _someone_, maybe, but Gale already knew it wouldn’t be the same. He’d grown up with Katniss, fallen in love with her at a young age. They’d fallen in sync with one another as children and to this day could predict and anticipate one another’s actions and words like it was second nature. 

He knew her. And he loved her. And that feeling couldn’t be replicated. 

Finnick did more emotional labor than necessary and reminded Gale of the beautiful friendship he still had with Katniss and blah blah fucking whatever. Gale wouldn’t admit to feeling better upon hanging up, but at least he didn’t start drinking alone.

Thom called next, telling him that he was welcome to come over for shots whenever.

* * *

When he got to Thom’s an hour later, Undersee was the one to greet him at the door.

“Delly owes me twenty bucks,” Madge said upon seeing him. “She didn’t think you’d come.”

Gale flipped her off and edged past her to get inside. He thought he was done with Undersee after graduation when she and Katniss went their separate ways. He endured her presence through college because he was dating Katniss and Katniss was living with Madge, and then of fucking course once it was all over Madge moved in with Delly, who was dating Thom, which meant she was still fucking around all of the time. Legitimately living in his best friend’s house. 

“I see you haven’t learned how to control that mouth of yours yet,” he muttered as he entered the house.

“And I see you still haven’t developed a sense of humor,” she said, shutting the door behind him with more force than necessary. “Always a pleasure, Hawthorne.” He glanced over his shoulder at her with a scowl to find her scowling back. It didn’t do her any favors. “You doing okay?” she asked.

“Like you care,” he snapped.

She rolled her eyes and held up her hands in defeat. Gale left her in the hallway to find Thom, darting into the kitchen where he knew his friend was probably doing work. 

“Gale!” Thom greeted when he entered. Thom was sitting at the kitchen table with his laptop in front of him, typing away, but closed it the second Gale walked in. “I was starting to think you weren’t coming over.” Instead of answering Gale went to the freezer and pulled out a bottle of vodka. Thom hurried from his seat at the kitchen table over to the cabinets to grab two shot glasses, and when Madge ducked her head in at the last second he grabbed a third. “Want one?”

Madge looked to Gale as though she was waiting for his permission. Honestly, he didn’t care. She must’ve took his blank expression as a yes because she entered with a nod of her own. “Sure,” she said.

Gale twisted off the cap and poured shots for the three of them in silence. 

* * *

He was five shots in when Madge returned and tried again.

“I just wasn’t expecting it,” Gale finally told her. Thom had been trying to get him to open up for a bit but it was always awkward talking about feelings with his friends. Despite the entangled relationship he had with Madge in some ways it was also easier to open up to her. The fact that they weren’t _real _friends with a rich history allowed some of that awkwardness about emotional vulnerability to fade. “I thought I was clear about where I stood with how I felt and just…” he trailed off, a sick feeling in his stomach. 

They’d settled on the back porch to watch the sun go down while Thom welcomed Delly home from work. Summer was just beginning, not that it mattered, seeing as all of them had graduated some time ago and now had full-time jobs, but the weather was nice. It was a clear day which meant the purples and pinks that filled the sky as the sun dipped below the horizon were spectacular. It didn’t feel like the kind of day where someone got their heart broken. 

“Katniss isn’t always great at that,” Madge said. “Being clear about how she feels.” Gale turned, surprised to hear her say something that resembled support, and waited for her to say more. “I think that you two should talk before this gets worse.” 

“I can’t yet,” Gale admitted. He would eventually, just not today. Not tomorrow. Maybe not soon. “How far off base was I to think…” he trailed off, forcing out a laugh. “I didn’t know shit about Mellark.” He looked to Madge, eyes hooded. “Bet you did.”

“Peeta and I are friends,” she reminded Gale. Of course, perfect blondes being perfect friends. 

“Thought Katniss and I were friends too,” Gale drunkenly slurred. He didn’t understand. Romantic feelings aside she should’ve fucking told him about this. “Do you think she has any regard for how much she hurt me?”

Madge winced, eyebrows pulling together as she looked elsewhere. “Of course, Gale.”

“Maybe that makes it worse. Maybe that was the point.” Who could do something like that? Reach into his chest and pulverize his heart and think it would fit back into the same sized hole that had been left. Best friends didn’t do things like that. Decent people didn’t do things like that. “Fuck all of this.”

“Gale,” Madge said gently. 

It was frustrating because she was friends with Katniss _and _Peeta. She’d likely known about this for the entirety of it happening. 

“No, fuck you too,” he snapped.

“You can be pissed all you want,” Madge reared back, suddenly sharp. “But don’t take it out on me. Okay?” He held her gaze, eyes dark and unforgiving. “At least I’m here.”

The force of her words hit Gale square in the chest. 

At least she was here. At least Madge Undersee, of all fucking people, had followed him out to the back porch of Thom’s house to listen to his drunken ramblings because she knew there wouldn’t be anyone else to do it. At least she let him say the things he wanted to say, feel the things he wanted to feel.

Gale dropped his gaze. Alcohol hadn’t actually helped the way that he’d wanted it to. 

“I thought she cared about me,” he warbled. 

Madge waited a moment before offering, “Have you considered how complicated it is for her?” Gale shook his head, not even wanting to. “I know it sucks,” Madge told him. “But I don’t know, Gale, I’m sure it’s hard for her too. Of course she cares about you.”

It didn’t feel like it. After everything that they’d been through together he’d somehow become an afterthought for her. Maybe she was hurting, maybe she did care about him, but the way she’d gone about this was too painful for Gale to consider her side of things.

She certainly hadn’t considered his. 

Katniss had been the one to make the choices that led them here, after all. If she was feeling upset, she should have reached out to him.

“I didn’t need to find out on Facebook.”

“No,” Madge agreed. “That was fucked.” 

Gale had to ask. “Have you talked to her?” 

“Me?” Madge echoed. “No. We talk like, once a month, maybe. I talk to Peeta more.” She made a face. “Who definitely thought that you knew about them before today, might I add.” 

Gale’s chest felt tight and he wasn’t sure if it would ever stop being difficult to breathe. “So what do I do?” he asked. “How do I…?” 

Gale wasn’t sure what he wanted to ask. How does he let her go? How could he maintain a friendship with the woman who broke his heart? How could he forgive the absolute blatant disregard for their friendship and everything they’d built together before all of this? 

“I don’t know, Gale,” Madge answered. 

The alcohol had numbed things a little, but for the most part he still felt like there was a gaping hole in his chest where his heart had been. They hadn’t been lovers for a few months, Gale supposed, but it still felt like he’d just lost his best friend.

* * *

In the morning, Gale woke to the smell of coffee.

He’d fallen asleep in the most uncomfortable position on Thom’s couch at some later time, half-stumbling there, the vague memory of Thom’s hand on his back as he helped guide the way. At least Katniss had waited until Friday to update her relationship status so Gale didn’t have to worry about work.

There was a trash can by his side that he thankfully hadn’t puked in but his stomach was rolling like he might still end up hurling at some point this morning. He rubbed his hands over his face and reached for his phone finding a few messages from Finnick and another from Bristel, but nothing from Katniss. 

Slowly he climbed off the couch and made his way to the kitchen needing water more than anything. When he got there he found Madge leaning against the counter with a mug of coffee in her hands, slowly sipping it. 

“Morning,” she greeted. Gale frowned a little before lowering himself to the kitchen table with a grunt. “How’re you feeling?” Gale grumbled in response. “Mm-hm, seems right.” Without prompting Madge crossed the room to get a glass and then filled it with water for him. She also dug around the cabinet until she found the Tylenol and set that on the table for Gale as well. “Here,” Madge said.

“Thanks,” Gale grunted.

“You want breakfast?” she asked, leaning back against the counter with her mug. “Coffee?”

“You to stop talking?” he offered. Madge sipped her coffee in silence. They had a spare room upstairs but the fact that Gale slept on the couch meant he’d been too drunk to take the stairs, which was a little embarrassing. Gale finished off the rest of his glass of water before talking again. “You don’t have to take care of me.”

“Mostly I’d already made the coffee for myself,” Madge told him. “And I was planning on making eggs.” The idea of putting food in his stomach made Gale wince. “Maybe some toast.” Gale grunted again. “Loving this whole caveman thing you’ve got going on with your grunts and grumbles,” Madge said before taking another drink.

She didn’t have to radiate sunshine first thing in the morning like this. 

“I’m sorry if I was--”

“You were,” Madge stopped him.

Gale sighed, reaching up to rub at his face again. “I’m sorry I was an asshole last night.” 

Madge crossed the room to him again to grab his glass. “You’re going through shit. Just stop being an asshole all the rest of the time and it’s fine.” She filled his cup with more water before giving it back, and then tossed a piece of bread at him. “It’ll help,” she promised. 

He looked between the water, Madge, and the bread, and let out another deep sigh. “Thanks,” he murmured.

There was nothing else to say. 

* * *

Thom’s house became Gale’s second home.

Thom had only bought the place about a year ago and between renovations and Gale spending all of his free time at Katniss’s place he’d just never gotten into the habit of spending lots of time at Thom’s. But it was only twenty minutes or so from his place, and it was closer to his work than his own apartment, so it was easy to go after his long days.

It was better going there than going home. His apartment was quiet. 

Some nights he and Thom would drink (and not talk about Katniss), other nights they would sit out in the backyard and grumble about work (and not talk about Katniss), and other nights he would be coaxed into movie night or game night with Delly and Madge (and not talk about Katniss).

Hazelle would call and press Gale for details about what had happened but when he stopped answering the phone she texted that she wouldn’t bring it up until he was ready. Rory knew better than to ask and had told all their siblings the same. 

Days passed and he hadn’t heard from her, but she also hadn’t heard from him, and though Gale knew their stalemate wouldn’t last he wasn’t sure if he wanted to be the one to break it. From his shock had stemmed a grief that was thick with anger. He didn’t know how he’d react when he spoke to Katniss next.

“Someone’s got to break the silence,” Delly offered one night, the four of them spread out in Thom’s basement. “Might as well be you.” They’d just finished a Netflix movie that Delly insisted upon about love and breakups and women finding themselves and Gale absolutely wasn’t thinking about downloading Lorde for his ride home. “Get it over with.”

“It’s a lot of pressure,” Gale grumbled.

If either of them had texted like things were normal right after maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, but it’d been nearly two weeks. So obviously things were weird now. 

“You’ve known her forever,” Thom droned on. He’d put up with all of Katniss and Gale’s on and off agains in college and was more or less over it. Thom still had vague sympathy for Gale, maybe more now than in college because Katniss had actually found someone else, but had stopped beating around the bush when it came to honesty. “Text her and ask her what the fuck her problem is and why ghosted you.”

“Oh my God,” Madge said. “Are you being ghosted? I hadn’t considered that.”

“Maybe I’m ghosting her,” Gale grunted.

“If you were ghosting her you wouldn’t still be talking about her,” Delly said. “And she’s not ghosting you. Just ask if you can talk.”

Delly and Madge’s presence softened Thom’s attitude about Katniss, too. Delly was gentle with him, Madge a pretty steady neutral, and together all three of them helped him through day by day. 

* * *

A few days later he got a text.

**Undersee  
**beach day soon?

He was surprised to see Madge’s name pop on his phone before quickly realizing that he’d been included in a group chat. 

**Mellark  
**Yes!!!!

**Finnick Odair  
**This weekend?

**Catnip  
**We’re free.

_They’re free_. 

Why the fuck would Madge include him in this? He browsed the other names and, fine, there were other cooler people that he’d like to see. Cressida, Johanna, Darius. People from college that he hadn’t seen in a while and should maybe make more of an effort to keep in his life. 

He opened a separate thread to text her.

**Gale**  
Let me guess.  
Your idea or Finnick’s?

**Undersee  
**joint effort

**Gale  
**Two giant thumbs down.

**Undersee**  
we’re doing the whole bonfire thing  
but i’ve never lit a fire on my own?

**Gale  
**You’re joking.

**Undersee**  
save me hawthorne with your big strong arms  
light me a fire to keep me warm

**Gale**  
You’re so annoying.  
Katniss can do it.

**Undersee**  
booooooooo

His phone was ringing a few seconds later and Gale hesitated. He’d been at Thom’s the last eight out of twelve days, most of them hanging out with Madge to some degree too, but he still wasn’t sure that actually made them friends. 

Still, he answered. “I know what this is,” he said.

“Oh?”

Days before they’d been talking about Gale unable to talk to Katniss, and now their friends were forcing them together. “Yeah. But I’ll still come.” 

“Oh thank God,” Madge returned. “I was going to beg and everything.” For some stupid reason that made him smile.

“I highly doubt that.”

He heard the smile in her voice, too. “I never got my fire starter badge.”

Gale shook his head while imagining Undersee as a girl scout. “Then just use lighter fluid,” he told her. “It’s not that hard.” 

“So you’ll buy the lighter fluid.”

He was thankful she couldn’t see him roll his eyes. Gale didn't need lighter fluid. “What’re you up to?” he asked instead. “Besides trying to ruin my weekend.”

“You don’t _have _to come,” Madge said. “You’re an adult. You can make your own decisions.” Before he could interrupt her to say he’d already agreed, Madge was speaking again. “Thom and Delly went out for food so I’m cooking.”

“The princess? Cooking for herself?”

“It’s a miracle, I know.” 

Gale let his smile stay. “What’re you cooking?” 

Madge hummed as though she was trying to drag it out before finally answering, “Mac and cheese.”

“Ah. High quality meal.”

“And what have you made for yourself to eat for dinner?” Madge returned. “Have you made anything at all?” 

Gale frowned at the takeout box in his lap. “I cook more than you do,” he grumbled.

“One for Undersee, zero for Hawthorne.” Still, the smile in her voice could be heard. “What’s your go-to meal for one?”

“Chipotle.”

Madge laughed. “That you make for yourself, dumbass.”

They chatted back and forth about Meals For One before it eventually tapered off and Gale felt obligated to end the call. It’s not like he normally spent time on the phone with friends. And Madge wasn’t even a friend. 

**Gale  
**How often do you call your friends just to chat?

**Finnick**  
Shall I call you?  
I love calling my friends what do you mean

**Gale**  
No.  
Never mind.

* * *

The beach weekend approached faster than Gale was prepared for, but Madge had sent the text on a Thursday so he didn’t have a lot of time to get all of his thoughts in order. He’d been figuring out what he wanted to say to Katniss the night before the beach when Katniss texted him first.

**Catnip  
**Are you coming to the beach tomorrow?

There was a part of Gale that was grateful it had come as a text and not a call (or worse yet, Katniss arriving in person at his apartment in an attempt to talk) so he could process his thoughts with time and make sure his own response wasn’t too sharp. It took him a long time to figure out how to respond.

**Gale  
**Yeah.

So maybe he wasn’t ready to talk to Katniss about the immense amount of pain that she caused him, so what? He could be fine. He _was _fine. 

**Catnip  
**Been awhile 

**Gale  
**Yeah.

He watched the thread for a long time waiting to see the (...) pop up, signifying Katniss typing, but after five minutes passed and there was nothing Gale set his phone aside. He only put it down for a moment before he opened it again, clicking through and changing some of the names around in his contact list. 

Another twenty minutes passed before Katniss texted back again.

**Katniss  
**Should we talk before?

Gale couldn’t help but wonder if someone was coaching her through this. They weren’t great at this. The two of them were so fucking bad at expressing their emotions and checking in with one another that even this one text was physically painful. Gale had no idea what a legitimate conversation regarding the discussion of feelings with Katniss would actually look like now. 

Maybe it was Peeta. Fuck.

She sent another text when he didn’t respond. 

**Katniss  
**I miss you

For fuck’s sake.

**Gale**  
You don’t miss me the same way I miss you.  
We don’t need to talk before.

She didn’t respond.

* * *

That weekend Gale rode to the beach with Finnick and Annie and tried not to get lost in the music that they put on. 

They left early in the morning because the plan was to spend the entirety of Saturday in the sun before everyone went their own way home that night but the drive wasn’t that long. Gale would end up riding back with Finnick and Annie too, who planned to drop him off at his apartment before heading home themselves. 

“What’re you thinking about over there?” Finnick asked. The ride was quiet. Annie had offered the front seat to Gale because his legs were longer and she almost immediately fell asleep in the back. 

“I haven’t seen her since,” Gale responded. “Or talked to her, really.”

To go from seeing each other a couple of times a week and talking nearly every day to absolutely nothing in the span days without any warning was absolutely horrifying and painful in ways that Gale didn’t want to detail. 

“You could have reached out,” Finnick reminded him.

“She could’ve told me she was seeing him,” Gale tossed back. Finnick tipped his head to the side as though he agreed. 

Gale really didn’t think he was overreacting. He got pretty drunk one night and has been doing the whole silent treatment thing since but it’s not like he was being some massive asshole. He could be a raging dick if he wanted to. Start some real shit. But he was better than that. 

It would've been so much easier to _not _blame Katniss. To _not _be mad at Katniss. Gale wished that he could pin these feelings burning inside of him on someone else, Peeta in particular. He didn’t want to associate her with the hurt and would rather blame it on him.

But that wasn’t the truth here. She’d hurt Gale, not Peeta. 

Either way, fuck the both of them. Today was probably going to suck.

They stopped talking about Katniss which helped the ride speed along. Gale kept checking his phone as though he expected her to text him, to say _something_ before they all were at the beach together, but before he knew it they were parking and he still hadn’t heard from her.

Which, fair. Gale told her that they didn’t need to talk before. But part of him still hoped she would think it necessary.

Because it was necessary. Gale just didn’t want to do it.

The three of them were the first to arrive so they held down the fort while everyone else slowly trickled in. Katniss and Peeta arrived on their own, closer to noon.

It was easy enough to avoid them. Gale rotated between beach volleyball with Darius and Johanna to walking the pier with Thom to even a little bit of time stretched out in the sun beside Delly and Undersee.

The sun was beginning to set when Katniss finally approached him.

He’d spent the entire day avoiding her as subtly as he could. He’d been hyper-aware of her at all times, constantly catching her in the corner of his eye, always wondering if she was looking at him. Gale didn’t know what to say to her and had been going over options in his head.

But all of their friends were here. As angry as he wanted to be, as hurt as he was, he couldn’t really let himself tap into that. They were at the fucking beach. 

So when she finally found him, when Gale let himself be found, he held his ground and held her gaze and said, “I have to help start the fire.”

Katniss folded her arms over her chest lightly, her eyebrows tugging together in a sad sort of way. She turned and glanced over her shoulder, scanning the beach for their friends. Gale’s eyes shifted too. Finnick and Annie were close, Madge and Bristel to his left. None of them were watching but he could feel their presence regardless. 

Katniss turned back to him and took a step closer. “Gale--”

“Don’t,” he stopped her. Sharp but quiet. He didn’t want to be overheard. “I don’t want to do this here. But you should’ve fucking told me.” 

“I didn’t know how,” she tried.

“Bullshit.” Gale tensed, glancing over his shoulder again to make another quick scan of the beach. Katniss held herself tighter. “Anything would’ve been better than Facebook.” She looked down, shaking her head. Before she could say anything else Gale said again, “I don’t want to do this here.” 

“You could’ve texted.”

“Me?” Gale rasped. He faked a laugh, shaking his head. “For fuck’s sake, Katniss. I thought you were my best friend.”

“You are--I mean, we are--”

“Seriously?”

“That’s why this is so _hard_\--”

“It’s not hard,” Gale stopped her. 

He wasn’t enough. She’d been too afraid to tell him that to his face, so instead she didn’t say it at all. Gale had to figure it out on his own.

“I don’t want to lose you because of this,” she said, fierce enough that Gale felt it tighten in his chest. 

_You won’t_, he wanted to say. Instead he said, “I need more time.” 

Gale walked away from her without saying anything else. He didn’t know how long it would take or if it was even possible. Loving Katniss was as easy and as natural as breathing. How was he supposed to turn that off just because she had? How could their friendship ever recover from her hiding something like this?

He headed right for the fire pit and wasted no time in getting the fire started. A few minutes later, just before the sun had really disappeared, the fire was burning hot. It was easier to focus on that then it was to think about Katniss, easier to use his hands to create than think about the pain in his chest. 

By the time he was settled he was still thinking about Katniss.

“That’s a nice fire,” Madge said from beside him. She dropped into the spot the moment he’d stationed himself there, barely giving him any time to breathe. Gale kept his mouth shut. “You okay?” Still, he said nothing. Madge readjusted and looked back to the flames. “Thanks for helping.” 

Despite how soft Madge often was, there was a force within her words that felt genuine. She’d packed so much weight into those few words of thanks to him that Gale knew she was trying to comfort him in some small way. 

“I didn’t know how big you wanted it but I figured this would do,” Gale said. 

Madge elbowed him a little with a smile. “It’s perfect.” 

Through college Katniss had always described Madge as quiet, which Gale had never understood. Madge could be loud and sharp and she never backed down from a fight. But in the same breath, Gale realized, Madge had a quiet energy to her. Beside him she didn’t push or pry, and when they did talk her voice was calm and soothing. It wasn’t a shy quiet, but the kind that reminded him to breathe.

He tipped his head to look at her as he thought this, wondering what else he may have been wrong about, when he realized that she was deep in thought herself. 

He followed her gaze to where Peeta’s older brother stood talking with Finnick. It took him a second to remember that Madge had dated him for a few months, or almost dated him or something. He’d never paid too much attention. When he looked back to her she’d tucked into herself, eyebrows furrowed as she stared at the fire. 

“What ever happened with that?” Gale asked. 

It took Madge a moment to realize that she was talking to her and another to figure out what she was talking about. She followed his gaze over to the older Mellark brother and shrugged. “He changed his mind,” Madge answered.

“He changed his mind,” he echoed. “The fuck does that mean?”

“Maybe you could ask him and let me know what he says,” she muttered, looking away from the man she’d been watching. Gale shifted and Madge turned to look to him in a hurry, fear stricken across her face. “Not actually,” she rushed. Gale couldn’t help but laugh that she thought he was about to actually stand and have a conversation with Taftan Mellark, but her worry didn’t subside. “It’s like--long over now,” she carried on. “But sometimes you can’t help but wonder when you still don’t know, you know?”

Gale thought of Katniss.

“I know,” he murmured. As he turned back to Madge to say something else he noticed Darius swaying on his feet as he stumbled over to them. He dropped down on the other side of Madge and draped his arm over her shoulder in greeting.

“Hey D,” Madge said.

“What’re you two love birds up to?” Darius sang back. Gale knew he was teasing but it still felt too soon for a joke like that.

Madge looked to Gale as she said, “Figuring out if we want to change it up in bed tonight or not.”

Gale scoffed.

Darius lit up, eyebrows shooting up his forehead. “What?”

“Like, do I want to be on top this time?” Madge asked.

“Margaret,” Darius gasped. Gale didn’t know what her angle was so he let her ramble.

“Or should I still sleep under the comforter? Because with the weather this hot I think I might need to be on top, but I’m always worried something’s going to grab my foot if I’m not under any blankets.” Gale laughed while Darius shook his head. “Don’t start games you’re not willing to play,” Madge teased with a smile that was both playful but sweet. 

“You’re my favorite, Madgie,” Darius told her, knocking their heads together. “Thanks for helping put this together.”

“Aw. Thanks for coming.” 

“And you,” Darius said, leaning past Madge so he could nudge Gale’s shoulder. “I love seeing your face, man.” 

“It’s a nice face,” Madge agreed, looking to Gale with a smile. 

Gale rolled his eyes, but he smiled too. Maybe the first time all day. “I didn’t want to,” he admitted.

“We know,” Darius said back.

* * *

After the beach Gale ached in strange ways.

Seeing Katniss after all of that time didn’t give him any sort of closure, it just made him feel more hollow. In everything he did he still missed her. He saw things that reminded him of her, heard stories that he wanted to tell her. But in all of that rested a confusion that sometimes simmered up as anger, other times as sadness.

What had he meant to her all this time? If Katniss could treat his feelings with so little care, were they even _friends_ like he’d thought? Or was that all an illusion too?

He needed more time. And that was true, even if he hadn’t thought through what that meant in the moment. 

The week after the beach he ended up at Thom’s on Friday night again. Gale missed summers when he was younger where he hadn’t needed to work and his personal problems were the only thing to fill his time. Work today had been long and stressful, people on his team not meeting the deadlines for their projects, Gale taking blame that wasn’t his to carry to protect others. It was exhausting.

So he went to Thom’s to drink to forget, and then Delly left for some event with Peeta, which made him think of Katniss, which brought back more of the ache from before. 

It was never fucking ending. 

He and Thom sat out on the back porch with a bottle of whiskey to pass between them. Thom let Gale grumble about work and did some grumbling of his own but it wasn’t as cathartic as he wanted it to be. He didn’t realize how late it was until the backyard started to twinkle with fireflies. 

The back door slid open and Madge stuck out her head. “You want me to turn the light on?” she asked.

“Let me light one of the torches,” Thom said. “Want to join us?” 

“What are we wallowing about tonight?” Madge asked in answer, stepping outside and closing the door behind her. 

Thom had a pretty big yard but closer to the seating area were a few small tiki torches meant to keep mosquitoes and other bugs away. He stood to light a few of them while Madge pulled a chair over toward where Gale and Thom were sitting.

“Work,” Gale answered, offering her the bottle. She held her hand up to deny it and Gale brought it back for a swig of his own. 

“Oh, work’s going well for me right now.”

Gale rolled his eyes. “You make it so difficult to enjoy being around you,” Gale grumbled. 

Thom chuckled as he returned to his seat, a few torches now lit. “You just finished that huge grant thing, right Madge?”

She sunk backwards in her seat with a sigh. “Yeah, that was exhausting. So I’m enjoying the break.” Gale took another drink from the bottle with a frown. “Bad for you?” she asked Gale directly.

He started his rant over again but with some alcohol in his system it made it a little more difficult for his words to be as clear as he wanted them to be. Still Madge listened, nodding along and frowning when Gale frowned too.

At one point Thom’s phone rang and he stood, murmuring something about having to take it before slipping inside and leaving Gale outside with Madge alone. 

They slipped into silence but with the summer really starting the air was humming with life. Gale closed his eyes and let those sounds wash over him, reminding him again of when he was younger. 

“Remember when summer used to be fun?” he muttered.

Madge laughed quietly. “Summer’s still fun. We went to the beach last weekend. We could do anything we want this weekend.”

“Working for the weekend,” he grumbled. 

Madge nodded in agreement. After a moment she asked, “Any plans?”

“What, this weekend?” Gale took another swig of his drink and thought about it. Maybe he’d drive home and see Vick and Posy. Ma mentioned something about the dishwasher acting weird so Gale could go take a look at it. “I don’t know,” he answered. 

When he didn’t elaborate, the summer silence returned. Even though the sun had set the air was warm in a way that was comfortable. If he went home he might run into Prim, which could be nice. It had been so long since he’d talked to her with all of the Katniss drama which felt unfair, seeing as Gale loved Prim like family too. 

And so then he was thinking about Katniss again, wondering if Katniss ever thought of him. “Fuck,” he swore, shaking his head to try and clear her away. “I need to stop drinking.” 

Madge looked over at him with wide eyes. “Are you gonna puke?”

“No,” he forced out with a laugh. “Not that.” 

Madge hesitated. “Katniss?” 

“Isn’t it always?” he grumbled. He didn’t look at her because he didn’t want to see the look on her face. Whether she was annoyed or angry or sad or pitiful, Gale didn’t care to know. “I said I needed space,” he told her. 

“Cool. Talk to your therapist about it.” Gale looked up at her with an eyebrow arched and she mimicked the look with fire in her eyes and a smile on her face that somehow made all of this soft. “Space is good,” she offered. 

“Sucks.” 

“Yeah, but it’s good.” Gale looked back out to the yard and watched the fireflies twinkle across the field. She sighed and leaned toward him. “Give me that,” she said. Gale wasn’t sure what she wanted until she pointed to the bottle of whiskey, which he passed over easily. “I haven’t talked to her since the beach either,” Madge said after a swig.

Gale blinked hard as he processed her words. “Why not?”

“I don’t know.” Madge winced in the aftermath of her pull. “She hasn’t reached out. Neither have I.” She shrugged and passed the bottle back before sinking down in her chair. “I don’t know,” she said again.

Gale considered taking another drink and decided against it. “Why haven’t you reached out?”

“Honestly?”

“Yeah.”

Madge gestured to Gale as she spoke. “I’m annoyed at how she handled this. She was completely unfair to you. And--” she dropped her hands, shrugging. “It’s not like we talked a lot unless I reached out first anyway. So.” 

Gale wasn’t sure what to respond to first. 

Madge reached for the bottle and was speaking again before he could figure it out. “Can I ask you something?” 

“You’re going to anyway.”

She took another drink and didn’t wince this time. “With Katniss,” she started slowly. “What was it about her?” 

Gale shook his head, not understanding. “What do you mean?” 

“I don’t know. Like--don’t get me wrong,” Madge rushed. “It was _not okay _how she handled telling you about Peeta. You’re allowed to be heartbroken and wallow. But.” She hesitated. “You two are pretty private people. The only time I ever saw you and Katniss was when you two were fighting, really, so I just don’t…” she trailed off, shrugging another time. “I don’t _know, _I don’t get it. She never talked about it. Like--what was it between you two that was good? That worked?” 

Thank God he’d already had a lot to drink. “Well…” he started. “She was my best friend.” 

Madge let him speak even though his sentences came slow and in fragments. Murmurs about family, about similar childhoods and growing up together, something about a familiarity that reminded him of home. She listened intently and took small drinks of whiskey as he carried on.

“You were on and off again all through college,” Madge reminded him. Whatever had broken between them wasn’t something entirely new. “Is that really what you want?”

Anger warred against sadness inside of him. He didn’t know how to make Madge understand the weight of the way he and Katniss were entwined. He was drunk, it’s not like he should be expected to pen long romantic love letters about tragic childhoods with dead fathers and learning how to love again. “She’s my best friend,” Gale whispered another time. 

Madge looked sad when his eyes found hers. “That doesn’t mean you’re meant to be in love with each other,” she told him.

Gale fought off his sadness by clenching his jaw. It was easier to radiate anger than it was to let Madge see him for how broken he really was. “Yeah,” he murmured. “I guess not.” 

He knew it would be easier if he accepted that. Then he and Katniss could return to friendship, at least, instead of this distance that felt like a void that couldn’t be filled. But that meant swallowing what had happened and ignoring the hurt so they could hold onto something else just to stay in one another’s life. It felt like more of a burden for him than it was for her.

It was so easy to fall in love with his best friend. That’s why trying to set all of that aside was so difficult. Despite what Madge thought, the good was _very good_. At their best Gale felt like he had someone who always made him feel like he was at home. Maybe they weren’t meant to be together but when they had been, when they worked, it’d been magic. Gale thought that was something worth fighting for.

A few minutes passed before Madge reached for the whiskey bottle again. “Shouldn’t have brought it up if you didn’t wanna talk about it,” she suggested, voice light enough that Gale knew she was offering him an out. 

“It feels like the only thing I know how to talk about anymore,” Gale admitted tiredly. He wanted to know more about why what Katniss did upset Madge the way it had, but he didn’t know how to ask. “You think I’m going to be okay?” he asked.

“I mean yeah, probably,” Madge responded. “You’re a smart guy with a big heart. It’ll just take some time.”

Gale huffed out a laugh. “Wow. Was that a compliment?” 

“Yeah. Your turn to say nice things about me.”

Gale chuckled, not sure where this new wave of relief was coming from. Despite the heaviness of the conversation he felt like it had gotten easier in only a moment. 

There were a lot of nice things he could say. But in the end he said, “What do you want to hear?”

Gale’s chest cracked with shame when he watched her face fall. Madge tried to mask it with a smile but he knew he’d made a mistake. 

“I knew you still didn’t like me,” she joked as she climbed out of her seat. Gale was startled at the movement, sitting up as she started stretching. “I should get ready for bed.” 

Gale reached out and caught her wrist before she could get too far, but the second his fingers circled around her he realized he had no idea what he was doing. Sometimes his body would do that--act before his mind could say anything about it. But Madge paused, and now she was standing there looking at him, waiting for him to say something. 

“Thank you,” Gale settled with. 

Hearing that Madge saw some unfairness in how everything happened brought him some sense of comfort. He hadn’t been making everything up in his head, he hadn’t been overreacting. He’d been a man in love who got his heart broken with little regard as to how it would actually impact him. 

Madge saw that. She smiled again but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “G’night,” Madge responded softly.

She slipped inside without looking back. Thom returned a few minutes later. 

“Took you long enough,” Gale murmured as Thom sat down beside him.

Thom blinked. “Huh?”

“You were gone for awhile,” Gale returned.

Thom blinked a few more times. “Oh, I thought--?” He shook his head. “No?”

“No?” Gale echoed. “No what?”

“You and Madge were talking?” 

Gale shook his head, not understanding. “Yeah, and?” 

Thom took a drink from his beer, something shifting on his face that Gale didn’t quite understand. “Sorry, man. It was a work thing.” Gale rolled his eyes but leaned back in his seat. “Things are chill though?” 

Gale didn’t know what he was asking. “Yeah,” Gale said. “Fine. Why?”

Thom shook it off and reached for the whiskey. “Nothing. God, that client is fucking crazy,” he told Gale before starting a story about the phone call he’d just been on. Gale listened along to Thom’s words but his mind kept drifting.

At some point there was noise inside which signaled Delly’s return, so Thom and Gale collected their things and headed inside to greet her. 

Peeta was with her in the kitchen.

Everyone froze when Gale and Thom arrived and the silence felt like it had physical weight. 

“Thom!” Delly cheered, rushing forward to her boyfriend. “Hiii,” she dragged out, and even though he was drunk himself he could catch it in her voice too. Thom wound his arms around Delly and arched an eyebrow, looking between Gale and Peeta as though he was trying to figure out what to say. 

“Hi,” Thom eventually settled with.

“Delly had three entire margaritas at paint night,” Peeta told them both.

“Only two and a half,” Delly giggled.

Thom chuckled, patting his girlfriend’s back lightly. “Let’s get you to bed, baby,” he said softly. 

Delly hummed happily, laughing as Thom guided the two of them from the room. Over his shoulder Thom offered Gale a look that meant _I swear I had no idea and also I’m sorry but I’m walking away now_, to which Gale responded with a look that meant, _big fuck you, dude_.

Peeta leaned back against the counter and folded his arms over his chest and Gale bubbled up with anger. 

“The fuck are you doing here?” he demanded.

Peeta gestured toward the door that Delly just left. “I didn’t know you’d be here,” he said. “Just wanted to make sure Delly was alright.”

Gale was struggling at swallowing his anger. “She’s alright,” Gale said. 

Peeta nodded. “Yep! Yes, she is.” He refolded his arms across his chest, which wasn’t a stance that meant he would be leaving soon. “Gale--”

“No,” he started. Gale turned in a circle, shaking his head, but ended up circling around to face Peeta again. “You should go.”

Peeta held his ground. “I didn’t know that you didn’t know,” he said. It took a moment for the words to filter through Gale’s head, another for the words to make sense. “With Katniss,” Peeta clarified, and though Gale knew it was coming he still wasn’t ready. “She pretty much explicitly told me that you knew about us.” 

_Us_. Gale winced, unthinking. 

“She didn’t.”

“So I’ve learned,” Peeta said. 

Gale’s anger started fanning out across his ribcage, hardening into a cold confusion. “She told you that I knew about the two of you,” Gale echoed, still trying to make sense of all of this, and Peeta nodded. “She didn’t tell me anything,” he said again.

“Like I said, so I’ve learned.” He finally dropped his arms from across his chest and exhaled deeply, shaking his head. “I’m sorry,” Peeta eventually said. “It’s not the same--I mean, I know that you and Katniss have history.” At her name Gale turned away, more feelings loosening up in his chest, solidifying into something new he couldn’t make sense of. “But I know how shitty it feels because she lied to me too, in a different way sure, but I’m just.” He sighed loudly, holding his hands palm up to show surrender. “I’m sorry,” he said again. 

If this was five years ago Gale probably would’ve punched him. All he wanted to do now was go to bed. 

“She doesn’t even care,” he grumbled.

“She does,” Peeta said. 

It certainly didn’t feel like it. Especially since she lied to Peeta too. It felt like she was playing a fucking game. 

“After how she handled it you’re still with her?” 

Peeta’s easygoing smile flickered. “Yeah.” 

“Good for you,” Gale droned, turning on his heel to actually march away this time. “I hope it works out.”

“Hope what works out?” Madge asked, appearing farther down the hallway. 

“Not talking to you,” Gale grumbled as he passed her. 

He knew he’d be sleeping either on the couch or in the spare room tonight but Gale needed a cigarette. He lumbered out to his truck and stuck his head in, digging around for the pack he kept stashed in his glove compartment. A more sober part of his brain might’ve realized that Peeta’s car was outside, so if he wanted to leave he’d be out there soon enough, but Gale figured it out when Peeta found him there a few minutes later anyway. 

“Thank God you’re not driving,” Peeta said in greeting.

Gale was leaning against his truck as he smoked. He frowned. “Goodbye,” he said. 

Despite it, Peeta smiled. “I wish that we could’ve been friends,” he said. Gale paused with his cigarette halfway to his mouth and Peeta shrugged a little before carrying on to his car. 

Gale finished his drag and swallowed his groan before he said, “Wait.” 

Peeta stopped. Gale hated this shit. 

He flicked the ash from the end of his cig and waited for Peeta to turn back to face him. “How is she?” Gale asked when he finally did.

Peeta shrugged. “She’s waiting for you.” Gale returned to his cigarette. “I can tell her--” Gale lifted his free hand, stopping him from finishing. 

He waited for Gale to exhale. When he did, Gale put the cigarette out on his truck and said, “Goodnight.”

Peeta nodded his head in understanding. “G’night,” he said back.

* * *

Work picked up which gave Gale the distraction that he needed. He carried it home with him, working on projects late into the night so he wasn’t thinking about Katniss. When he wasn’t doing work he made himself cook, and he also started a new show on HBO without telling anyone else so he could experience it on his own. 

At night in bed he would scroll through Katniss’s social media and stumble upon things he didn’t want to see and pretend like it didn’t hurt him, then do the same with Peeta’s.

One night he and Johanna got drinks after work, another night he went out with Darius. Things to keep his mind busy, ways to keep up appearances.

He very steadily tried to not think about Katniss and failed. 

**Thom**  
So come over this weekend  
And we’ll all get stoned  
Me you Delly Madge lots of pot

**Gale  
**Delly doesn’t smoke.

**Thom**  
Edibles baby!  
Come and cope with us 

When the weekend rolled around and Gale arrived at Thom’s, Darius was there too, tucked onto the couch beside Madge like he’d planned on being there the whole time. “Hey,” he greeted when Gale arrived.

“Who invited this one?” Gale asked, sinking into the other free spot on the other side of Madge. 

“Someone had to bring the pot,” Darius said with a grin. 

They had a batch of brownies to make their way through and it was one of those awful, humid days that kept them inside with the air conditioner humming. It didn’t take long for the brownies to kick in and before he knew it Katniss was the farthest thing from Gale’s mind.

Instead he was thinking about Madge, watching her and Darius on the other end of the couch. They were laughing about something behind their hands, Madge nearly on his lap while Darius had one arm around her shoulders. Affectionately close in a way that Gale didn’t super find himself liking but couldn’t stop thinking about. 

**Thom  
**Stare much?

Gale frowned at his screen and then turned to Thom so he could glare. Thom called out to rope them all into picking some music which had Madge sliding back into the middle of the couch, farther from Darius, who seemed to be growing sleepier with every passing moment. 

“Cozy in here, is all,” Darius said when asked.

Thom played lullabies as a joke and within the first few songs, Darius was out like a light. When Thom winked, Gale pretended not to notice. 

“I guess you’re part of the crew now,” Madge said a little bit later, direction focused back to Gale. 

He snorted. “No, I’ve always been part of the crew. You’re the late addition, Undersee.”

“Nope.” She edged closer to him. “You dropped off the face of the planet and the new crew became me Delly and Thom. Here you are, having wormed your way in.” Gale rolled his eyes again but his smile stayed.

“No,” he tried again. “The crew was me Thom and Darius. Delly wormed her way in, and in doing so--”

“Hey,” Delly protested across the room.

“--made room for you,” he carried on.

“And then you dropped off the face of the planet,” Madge said again, nudging Gale with her elbow a little bit. “Besides, this is a new crew completely. Darius isn’t invited.”

Gale wouldn’t admit that something about that made him warm. “Why not?”

“He lives too far. This is our regular hang out crew now.”

Gale rolled his eyes another time but as silly as it was it brought him comfort. Katniss used to be his crew. Just Katniss, really, which seemed kind of problematic the more Gale thought about it, but to have these new people stand and say, “No, you’re ours,” came as some sense of relief. 

“I don’t want him in the crew,” Thom jeered from his seat with a grin. Delly laughed, cozying down onto her boyfriend some more. 

This felt nice. Thom shifted the music again away from lullabies and, with Madge closest to him, Gale directed his attention to her. Thom and Delly were caught up in themselves anyway. 

“Do you remember that time in college I had to pick you up from the airport?” Gale asked.

Madge’s lips pursed like she was trying her hardest not to smile. “Why?”

“So no.” He’d been thinking about how to recover from his blunder with Madge the other day and hadn’t really come up with anything substantial but this was where the pot led his mind. “I let you put on the music.”

“Mm-hm…” she trailed off. “Vaguely.” 

“And you put on fucking Glee.” 

Madge burst into giggles that immediately made Gale grin too. “Oh yeah,” she said through laughter. “I forgot about that! Wait--” she turned, pressing her finger into his chest. “Don’t pretend like you weren’t singing under your breath.” 

“Everybody knows the words to Don’t Stop Believin’ whether Glee sang them or not. But,” he paused, and Madge’s eyebrows climbed up her forehead as she waited. “Then we got lost because we didn’t have service.”

“Mm-hm.” She nodded firmly, clearly remembering that part of their journey more than the music. “And it started raining.” Gale exhaled a laugh of his own finally, shaking his head. “I kind of forgot about all that.” 

“I didn’t,” Gale murmured. It wasn’t often he and Madge spent time together in college, and if they did it was mostly with Katniss. But Madge needed a ride and Katniss had class and she and Gale were on the outs again so Gale had offered as a sort of peace offering.

It was already late when he picked Madge up from the airport and then the added loss of GPS and sudden onset of a storm had them a little lost. They ended up pulling over under a bridge to wait out the worst of the storm. It hadn’t been very long, and seeing as they never talked about it again it made sense that she’d forgotten. 

Madge’s eyes lit up as she remembered. “Oh, and we went and parked!” 

“Yeah.” 

“And we--” her smile grew and she slid closer. “Oh my God, we just turned the engine off and listened.” 

It hadn’t meant anything then. They sat quietly on opposite sides of the truck, hidden beneath a random overpass as they listened to the storm just beyond their reach. 

Gale knew he was moving but did nothing to stop it. His hand searched for hers and soon enough their fingertips were tangled together. It felt like it had been years since he’d touched another person and her hands were so impossibly soft Gale thought he might crumble from how delicate she was. Madge pushed back with more force until their hands were laced together and suddenly, it didn’t feel like enough. 

He thought of earlier when Madge had perched half on Darius’s lap and desperately wanted to tug her onto his own. Gale wanted to wind his arms around Madge and have her do the same and then just be held by another person, just for a little bit. 

But for now he’d just hold her hand. 

“That was nice,” Madge said, voice warm like the afternoon sun that streamed in through the window. “I don’t really like storms.” 

“I do.”

“You would.” 

She turned then and so did he, her other hand coming up to clasp his hand completely. Even just this small touch was overwhelming. Her smile was wicked, thoughts almost certainly somewhere distant from his own. “Remember when you hated me?” she asked. 

He tugged her toward him anyway. “No,” he murmured. Madge shifted on the couch, more into his arms, and every bit of it was both steadying and earth shattering all at once. “You annoyed the hell out of me, but I didn’t hate you.” 

“You _hated _me,” Madge prodded. Closer still. Gale cracked, allowing himself a smile. “Say it.” 

“I won’t.” Behind Madge, Darius snored. Gale’s smile grew. “Just when you would speak, sometimes.”

She grinned. “Uh-huh.” 

“And those stupid oil diffusers you would always leave burning.”

Madge laughed and she was the most beautiful thing Gale had seen in a long time. His eyes fell to her mouth and for a moment he thought of a person that he could be. The kind that didn’t have the weight of a broken heart seared into his skin and could lean in, nose to nose until they were trading breaths, and kiss her. But that wasn’t him, not now, maybe not ever.

And more importantly this was Madge. 

Despite Thom’s wink from earlier, they were just friends. She could be beautiful and warm and lovely but they’d still just be friends. It was a miracle they made it here.

Gale shook his head. ”I never hated you,” he said, wanting her to know that. She caught the serious note in his voice and her smile faded as she nodded to show she understood. 

He wanted to say more. To rectify his fumble from the other night when they’d been drinking whiskey on the back porch, to make amends for his attitude all those years prior. He wanted to prove to Madge that he was grateful for her. _Even that would be enough_, he found himself thinking. _I’m grateful for you_. But they held one another’s gaze and neither of them spoke for a long time. 

Eventually Madge said, “We’ll have to watch a storm again together sometime.” Gale’s chest flared with heat and he refused to acknowledge why. “Oh,” she said suddenly, pulling away from him in a rush. “I have to call Bristel.” Her one hand stayed laced with Gale’s as she dug for her phone with the other. She settled against Gale’s side again and he let his eyes close as he soaked it in. Her words, against him. 

On the phone Madge and Bristel spoke about nothing, or maybe something, but Gale tried not to eavesdrop. It mostly seemed like nothing though. Scattered laughing, Madge just checking in. 

It’d been a while since Gale had any form of weed so the edibles were hitting him the same way they were hitting Darius--he was getting sleepy. And with Madge all pressed against him, their hands still entwined, it was easy to want to doze off. 

When he did, half-asleep, mostly stoned, and still holding Madge’s hand, he dreamt of summer storms.

* * *

**Delly  
**Hello!

**Madge  
**hahahahhahaha omg

**Gale  
**We do not need a group chat.

**Thom**  
Yes we do  
How else can we tell you that we’re talking about you at dinner

**Gale**  
Please stop talking about me at dinner while I am not there to defend myself.  
Why are you talking about me at dinner.  
I hate this

**Madge  
**what’s your standard pizza order gale

**Gale  
**? Why

**Delly  
**just answer the question 

**Gale  
**No, tell me why.

**Thom**  
Just tell them the truth Gale  
It’s just cheese  
You only ever order cheese

**Madge  
**like, not even pepperoni??? 

**Gale  
**What’s wrong with cheese pizza.

**Delly**  
you’re ordering a pizza for yourself  
Just you  
and you just get cheese

**Gale**  
Sometimes.  
It’s my money I can spend it however I want 

**Madge  
**god this is incredible

**Delly**  
I knew I wasn’t crazy!  
Me too Thom is just an asshole  
cheese is classic!!!!!

**Thom**  
Thom is not an asshole  
Thom is an adult who wants to put more than just cheese and bread into his body

**Gale**  
Anybody can eat cheese.  
Simple  
Sometimes people are picky about toppings

**Madge  
**who, like you??

**Gale  
**Delly literally just said she prefers cheese

**Delly  
**i just really like cheese

**Gale  
**I’m blocking all of you.

* * *

Whenever work picked up it was a good distraction from life, but today had been particularly long. Long office days without clients left Gale alone with his thoughts and he’d spent a lot of the day second guessing his choices for clients. Admin work was exhausting in a different way than physical labor. 

When he got out it wasn’t at a great time and almost immediately ran into traffic. Already leaving the office later than he’d liked, hungrier than he wanted to be after a long day, Gale was tense. 

With no music seemed to settle the humming under his skin, the stop-and-go of traffic only making it worse, Gale finally slammed the volume button and sent his car into silence. But even the silence was grating. Before he could think about what he was doing he was calling someone through the Bluetooth in his car. 

“What’s wrong?” Madge answered a few rings later.

Even just hearing her voice brought Gale’s heart rate back to something more manageable. 

“Why would something be wrong?” he asked. 

Madge scoffed. “You never call me,” she responded.

“I’m stuck in traffic.”

“Oh, so you want me to entertain you?”

Gale’s smile grew. “Yeah.” They were still bumper to bumper but Gale eased backwards in his seat, letting some of the tension fade from his shoulders. He’d been thinking of how easily Madge called Bristel the other day, how she’d called Gale out of the blue before. He hoped that she wouldn’t mind. “You home?”

“Mm-hm,” Madge hummed. “I got out early today. They were doing electrical work in the building, or something. Don’t know, don’t care.”

“Nice.”

“Yeah. How was your day?”

“Well they’re not doing electrical work in my building so I didn’t get out early.”

Madge laughed. “Evidently.”

Gale told her about his day, about the shitty clients who never let him speak, about his shitty supervisor who thinks his ideas are crap, about the monotany of desk work, about the stupid fucking traffic that he was stuck in. The more he spoke the looser he felt and the more Madge laughed along with his words the more Gale smiled. 

When the traffic cleared up they switched so Madge was recounting her day. She told him about her office and the HR rep who would always bring out chocolate mid-afternoon to help everyone with their second wind, about her deskmate who popped his gum constantly even after Madge had very politely asked him to stop, and all about the seven (yes, seven) different plants she had on her desk.

“Nobody needs seven plants, Madge.”

“You, like, thrive in the outdoors,” Madge returned. “You’re telling me you don’t have any plants?” Gale thought about it for a moment but listened to her sound of disbelief on the other end. “Gale Hawthorne!”

“Don’t full name me,” he laughed in response. “Taking care of plants is like, taking care of pets.”

“Hmm, no.” He laughed again. “What’s your middle name?”

“Not telling.”

“There are some really easy to take care of plants,” Madge reprimanded him, sounding more serious, which only served to make Gale want to laugh some more. Instead, he let his smile find comfortable residence on his face. “I’m serious, Gale. You would feel so much better about yourself if you had a plant or two.” 

“Sure, sure.” 

Gale was home sooner than he expected and switched Madge over from his bluetooth to his handheld while he walked to his apartment. He told her he was home and they said their goodbyes before he slipped inside, feeling better than he had when he’d left the office. 

That night on the couch, Gale downloaded his first dating app since college.

He’d been playing around with it for all of ten minutes when he got a text.

**Madge**  
+1 Attachment  
look at this!  
you just hang it in your window and water it once a week and then you have a beautiful plant to not only keep you company but give you fresh air and nice green energy

Gale immediately felt his chest bloom. 

**Gale  
**Can barely take care of myself, Undersee.

**Madge**  
Omfg you cannot be serious  
you’re not even 30 and you have a full-time legit career and live alone and basically raised your siblings i am going to lose my goddamn mind  
YOU CAN BARELY TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF?

Gale chuckled at the text messages before switching back over to Bumble. He chose Bumble because the woman had to message first which took some of the pressure off of him to start conversations. During his on and off agains with Katniss in college Gale would use Tinder to find hookups, but that wasn’t what he was looking for anymore. He’d only been swiping for another few minutes when he got another text.

**Madge**  
+1 Attachment  
this one needs watering ONCE A MONTH  
you just place it in the window and there you have a nice little friend

**Gale  
**Madge.

**Madge  
**Gale.

**Gale  
**I don’t need any plants.

**Madge  
**you are so annoying sometimes

* * *

The next day Gale had a date lined up.

He didn’t know a lot about the woman and they hadn’t really said a lot in the chat before she asked if he wanted to get drinks after work, but fuck it. They traded numbers but didn’t really text and Gale found himself opening and closing her profile trying to look for more information about her. It listed the college she graduated from, that she drank socially. A few photos, a few blurbs. 

That night he tossed and turned in bed. 

**Gale**  
Hey are you awake  
I think I’ve developed insomnia  
Or depression  
Do they go hand in hand?

**Thom  
**Dude it’s 2 in the morning

**Gale  
**Do you think you’ll marry Delly?

Gale watched the (...) pop up and disappear a few times before the message finally came through.

**Thom  
**I hope so

In his big empty bed, Gale hadn’t felt this alone in a long time. 

**Gale**  
Maybe there’s no one out there for me  
Maybe I blew my only shot at finding someone 

**Thom  
**Katniss wasn’t your someone 

**Gale  
**Feels like it.

**Thom  
**She wasn’t

**Gale**  
Either way she didn’t trust me enough to fucking talk to me  
About any of this  
Aren’t I worth that?

**Thom**  
Of course youare  
You need sleep

**Gale**  
What’s that say about me?  
I can’t be told things? I’m not trustworthy?  
Maybe I’m too emotional. Lmao  
Me! Too emotional!

**Thom**  
Gale its late you need to sleep, I promise it’ll help  
It doesn’tsay shi t about you it just says Shit about her 

**Gale  
**I wasn’t enough for her

**Thom  
**You need to talk to her. 

**Gale  
**No.

**Thom**  
Then stop fucking making assumptions about what you were or weren’t for her  
Either way you two weren’t right  
If you were she wouldn’t have fucking hidden an entire relationship from you  
And then ghosted you?? What kind of fucking shit friend I donteven know where to start like  
Dude I don’t know what her deal is but I promise you the issue isn’t you being enough for her  
The issue is that youre not right for eachother  
Haven’t been for a long time and you’rejust stuck in this loop becus you want it to be different again  
She can’t communicate for shit.  
Fuck I know she fuckign hurt you dude. It sucks so bad and I hate it so much but that’s not a reflection on you at all man like you were honest with her and she didnt fuckign care  
But I know you love her and fuck I know she loves you too it’s just not gonna be the same because it wasn’t gonna work that way anyawy

**Gale**  
Sorry.  
Go to sleep.

**Thom**  
Brooooo no fucking way dude!  
Yore my best friend I’mfucking here until youre good or I fall asleep or both  
Or you fall asleep  
I know you feel fucked up dude anoyne who that happened to would feel that way  
WHO Does that! Obviously she knew you still had feeligns for her or she wouldnt have hidden it and then GHOSTED YOU  
But feelings aside it’s so fucked that’s like mario straight up ghosting luigi those are BROTHERS

**Gale**  
Ha. Okay, I’m really going to sleep.  
You just called me and Katniss brothers  
You’re asleep dude

**Thom**  
Yeah  
Eitherway  
It’ll be easier when the sun’s up

**Gale**  
I know.  
Thank you.

**Thom  
**We’ll figure it out

* * *

The date was fine. 

They met at a bar between both of their workplaces. She was beautiful, short brown hair that hung just above her shoulders and a smile that didn’t cut to his core. 

Half of him wanted to keep drinking to numb the underlying ache in his stomach. The other half of him knew where alcohol would lead him. 

Conversation was difficult to stumble through, and when she asked if Gale wanted to make out in the backseat of her car instead of whatever it was they were doing, he took her up on the offer. She bit his bottom lip and dragged her hands through his hair and Gale pulled back, out of it.

“Okay,” she said as Gale let himself come a little bit back into focus. “Are you not feeling this?”

“I’m sorry,” Gale offered. “I thought…” 

She didn’t want to hear his explanation, and to be fair Gale didn’t super want to give it to her. 

“Well so then get out of my car,” she said, shooing him back. 

“I’m sorry,” Gale tried again. She shrugged as Gale climbed out and then she followed after him so she could move to the front. “Good luck,” Gale offered before she could climb back into her car.

“Yeah,” she nodded. “You too.”

He deleted the app before even starting his car to drive home. 

* * *

“Well maybe you could come home this weekend,” Hazelle was saying on the other end of Gale’s phone.

It was Thursday night and instead of going straight home after work he made the drive over to Thom’s. Thom had sent a photo of a new bottle of wine and it wasn’t like Gale had other plans. He was sitting outside the house on the phone with his mom now, trying to make it seem like he wasn’t as achingly lonely as he really was.

“Could be nice,” Gale agreed. “I’m at Thom’s now, though.”

“Oh, good! I’ve always liked Thom, how’s he doing?”

Gale shrugged even though Hazelle couldn’t see. “Good. Has a house and a woman that he wants to marry. Might get a dog soon.”

“Maybe you should get that.”

“A woman I want to marry?” Gale grumbled.

“A dog. Could do you some good to look after another thing.” Gale tried not to scoff as though he hadn’t helped raise his siblings alongside his mother after his dad died. He also briefly thought about plants. “I worry about you in that little apartment, Gale.” 

“I’m fine, Ma. Honest.”

Hazelle didn’t super sound like she believed him but at least she didn’t ask about Katniss this time. She let Gale go so he could head inside and he left with a promise to visit soon. Home wasn’t too far away but Gale could spend hours there once he actually made the drive. He just knew that they would all want to talk about Katniss and Gale wouldn’t want to do that, so he needed to avoid it for a little longer at least. 

So thrilling, to live a life dedicated to the avoidance of a singular person. 

Gale let himself into Thom’s once he was done on the phone, finding the place quiet. He knew Thom would be out on the back porch, he’d texted to say so, but on his way to the back Gale checked in the living room to find Madge.

“Hey,” he greeted.

She frowned, eyes still down on her computer screen instead of lifting to look at him. “Did you even knock?”

“Thom’s going to get me a key made,” Gale teased. They’d all joked about it before, Gale getting his own key. Madge rolled her eyes, but not in the way that made Gale want to push her buttons some more. “You coming to drink with us?” Gale asked instead.

“Finishing something up,” she answered without looking up. “Nice to see you.”

Gale leaned back against the door frame and fought his smile. “You haven’t physically seen me yet.” Her eyes darted up for a moment, the corner of her mouth tugging into a smirk. “What’re you working on?” Gale asked.

“Grant proposal.”

“You should leave that at the office.”

“Wouldn’t that be nice?” Madge asked tiredly. She shifted on the couch and tipped her laptop screen shut a little bit so she could look at him. “I’ll be out eventually.”

Something kept him planted where he stood. “Cool.” Madge nodded in agreement, mouth tugged in a wider smile now. He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t left yet, but he did know he preferred this look on Madge’s face instead of the frustrated one from moments ago. Along with this realization came a sudden confession. “I went on a date this week,” Gale told her.

Not that he’d told anyone else. At all.

But the words burst out of him and Madge’s eyebrows shot up her forehead before they furrowed together and she frowned. “Really?” 

That wasn’t the response he’d been anticipating. Not that he was anticipating any sort of response, but if he had been, that wasn’t the one.

“Why are you frowning?” 

“I’m not,” Madge said, face slipping back into neutrality. Gale wanted to roll his eyes at her but something inside of him shook with sudden frustration. “How was it?” she asked.

“It was fine. She was... nice.”

Madge re-opened her laptop and started typing away. “Raving review,” Madge said.

Gale hesitated. Her tone was off, but so was his. “What’s so wrong with someone being nice?”

Madge didn’t even look up from her laptop this time. “I guess I didn’t realize you were looking for nice.”

“Who doesn’t want to be with someone who’s nice?” He was sharper than he intended to be which was evident in the way Madge’s eyebrows tugged together when she finally returned her gaze to him. He didn’t understand where her attitude was coming from, but his own response might’ve been a little harsh. It wasn’t like he was ever going to see his date again anyway. “I thought that you’d be happy for me.”

“I just didn’t realize you were dating again, Gale. Of course I’m happy for you.” Her answer didn’t settle anything inside of him. “I’m glad that she was nice, you deserve that.” 

Somehow that made it worse.

Gale’s chest tightened and he looked to her laptop, trying to find a way out of this conversation. “I’ll let you work,” he murmured, and she nodded as he darted away.

Thom and Delly were out on the porch, the two of them in chairs of their own. Gale knocked on the door before joining them to let them know he was there before stepping outside. Delly greeted him with a grin and Gale settled down in the seat beside her, still feeling uneasy. 

When Gale didn’t return her smile Delly asked, “Hey, are you okay?”

“Long day,” Gale murmured. 

Thom glanced over his shoulder toward the glass door with a frown. “No Madge?” he asked.

“She’s doing something for work.” 

Delly frowned too but neither of them pushed. The three of them chatted about their days for a bit before Gale reminded them about the wine. Thom offered to grab it and hurried away, leaving Gale and Delly to sit in silence together.

But the silence felt loud and heavy, so Gale cleared his throat. “If I told you I went on a date the other day, how would you react?”

Delly lit up like a firework. “Gale!” She reached over to him, her hand on his shoulder to shake it. “That’s so exciting!” This was more of the reaction that he’d been looking for, but still it didn’t sit well with him. “How did it go? Did you like her? Or him? Don’t want to assume--” Gale chuckled, shaking his head as Delly settled down. “It went okay?”

“It was fine,” Gale said quietly. “I don’t know.” His smile faded and he shrugged. “Wasn’t anything special.”

“That’s fine too,” Delly told him. “It’s just nice to get back out there, right? Like--at least you did it. You put yourself out there. That’s half the battle.” 

“I don’t know,” he said again. 

“I think it’s great,” Delly told him warmly. “And I’m really proud of you.”

He knew she didn’t mean it in any sort patronizing way and that helped to ease some of the stress lodged in his throat.

A few moments later Thom returned with the bottle and two glasses, and behind him Madge was carrying two more. The fact that Thom had been able to coax Madge to join them and Gale hadn’t set off a whole slew of weird feelings in Gale’s stomach, but he couldn’t be sure why. 

“Look who decided to show up,” Delly greeted as Madge appeared. She smiled and took the open seat beside Thom. “Done with work?”

“Might as well be,” Madge admitted. “My brain is fried. I can edit tomorrow.”

“When’s it due?” Gale asked.

“Monday,” she said. “So I have time.” 

“Gale was just telling me all about his date,” Delly said as Thom started pouring drinks for everyone. 

Thom tensed, looking up to Gale at once. “You went on a date?” Thom asked. “With who?” 

“Someone from Bumble,” Gale murmured.

“Still avoiding pronouns, I see,” Delly pointed out as she reached for a glass, which made Madge snort. Thom’s eyebrows pulled together and stayed that way while they passed out drinks and Gale couldn’t figure out why he suddenly felt so guilty. “I think it’s great,” Delly offered when no one else said anything. 

Thom hesitated. “Have you talked to Katniss yet?” he finally asked. 

Gale felt his walls go up at once. “I don’t see how that’s relevant.”

“Maybe I should pull up the texts you sent me Monday night and remind you how it’s relevant then,” Thom shot back with the same attitude Gale gave him. 

“Oh, fuck you. I’ve been on dates before Thom. She’s not involved in this.”

“Yes she is,” Madge chimed in immediately. Gale swung around to look at her, mouth open in surprise. “Gale…” she trailed off, looking down at the glass in her hands. “She really hurt you.” 

Those words whispered softly from Madge only served to make Gale’s heart shatter. 

“So?” he demanded.

“So,” Madge soothed, “I’m not sure that you’ve really processed it all yet.” Great. So not only did Thom think he was broken, so did Madge. “And you can be angry, but please don’t be angry with us.” 

“I’m not angry,” Gale grit out. He was something else. Frustrated might be closer. “I’m just--” something inside of him cracked and he knew that it was time to be truthful. “I’m tired of feeling like this.” 

In the silence, they passed out glasses and poured everyone some wine. 

“It’s good to put yourself out there,” Thom said eventually. “I mean, Jesus Gale, of course you deserve to find someone. But how much of yourself can you give to another person when you’re still thinking about her?” 

Gale stared down at his glass, wishing it would be easier to answer. Eventually he said, “What could she possibly say to make it stop?” They couldn’t understand the gash that had been left in his chest. Some days worse than others, but it felt like maybe it would never stop bleeding. The only way to get over it was to bury it and charge forward. “Nothing. I know there’s nothing.”

“No you don’t,” Madge encouraged. “She could say anything.”

“Like what?”

“Like _sorry_,” Delly offered. “She sure as hell owes you an apology. Everyone knows it, I’m sure she does too.” It’s just that Gale’s not convinced an apology would help. He’s almost certain that hearing her voice will do nothing but shatter him further. “Well, so, how was the date, then?” Delly pushed. “Did you think about Katniss during it?” 

“I don’t know,” Gale admitted. Maybe. He couldn’t be sure. He knew his thoughts had been elsewhere, at least. 

“Look,” Thom reasoned. “She should be the one to say something. But you asked for space, so maybe it’s got to be you. Either way, you have to talk to her.” 

It would be easier if he could cut her out of his life and never look back. Like the swift swing of an axe, she could be gone. But they were too entwined, their roots twisted that any sort of severance would wound him too. Everyone was right. They needed to move past this.

Gale knocked back the rest of his drink, not saying anything. Peeta had made it clear that Gale had to be the one to reach out when he stood in Thom’s kitchen all those weeks ago. _She’s waiting for you_, he’d said. 

“You could text her,” Madge offered. “Low pressure.” She passed the bottle back to Gale and he filled his glass up again, not looking at any of them. “You wanna do it now?” Madge asked a few minutes later after nobody said anything.

Gale answered immediately, “_Fuck_ no.” 

“We can help you draft it,” Delly said, and though it was a ridiculous suggestion she didn’t seem to think so at all. Madge nodded too. “That’s what friends are for.”

Gale gestured for the bottle of wine, having downed his second glass somewhere in the middle of all of that, and they passed it back to fill his glass again. “No,” he repeated. “Can we move on for the night now?”

All of them agreed to let it go even though it was clear Gale was the only one who’d been finished with the conversation. Still he drank, forgetting it was Thursday, trying to send Katniss farther from his mind and failing. 

He didn’t realize how late it was until Thom murmured something about helping Delly to bed because she’d fallen asleep in her chair. When Gale stood up to open the door for them the world swayed around him. He’d had more than he’d been anticipating. 

“Guess that’s my cue,” Gale murmured, using the wall to stand. “Should be getting home.”

Madge appeared behind him, her hand gentle on his side as she guided him into the house. “I can drive you,” she said. Gale’s frown was immediate. “You had too much. You’re either sleeping here or I’m driving you.” 

“What?” Gale demanded. “You drank too!”

“I had one glass of wine two hours ago, Gale. You finished off the bottle. Make a choice.”

That’s how they ended up in Gale’s truck just the two of them, slowly making their way back to Gale’s apartment.

“I’m sorry,” Gale murmured after they’d been driving for a bit.

“Shush.” 

He sighed, lifting up to rub his eyes. “It’s a weeknight.”

“Uh-huh. An Uber home will be like, six dollars. It’s fine, Gale.”

Gale turned and watched Madge as she drove, her focus on the road rather than on Gale. There was light music playing through the speakers but they’d turned it down when they first climbed in so the sound wasn’t distracting. As he watched her Madge turned, catching his eyes just once before looking back to the road. He watched her mouth curve up in a smile that made his chest ache with heat. 

“What?” she asked.

“Nothing.” 

Her smile grew. “Okay.” She looked at him again, a beat longer. “Stop staring at me.”

Gale’s face felt warm and he smiled slowly before he looked toward the road, too. “Sorry.” Then, a few moments too late, “I wasn’t.”

“Uh-huh.”

Again he looked at her. Her golden hair was silver in the low light of the night and her smile was still nestled on her face. Gale had always thought Madge to be beautiful, but so many other things had been more urgent than that. In college she was stubborn, fierce, _annoying_. She would debate with him and hold him to his word and did all of it with such grace that it drove Gale mad. They weren’t friends then and he hadn’t any intention of becoming friends so that was that.

Even now he didn’t think beautiful would be the first thing to think about when describing her. Her quiet kindness, maybe. Or her ever growing heart. Her ability to believe in second chances, to help Gale think that he’s deserving of one himself.

But she was beautiful, too. 

“Not staring, hm?” 

He shook his head. “Thinking.”

“Worse.”

Gale laughed and her smile grew again. “You were working late,” he said, telling her where his thoughts had been without her asking. “And now you have to deal with me.”

“I offered.”

It felt weird being in a car like this with Madge, weirder that it was Gale’s truck. He was thankful for the wine that muted all of this. They were quiet for the rest of the ride and the music was still soft enough that it didn’t have too much of a draw.

When Madge cut the engine she turned to him and said, “I don’t know if it helps, but I know you’re gonna be okay.” 

“You think so?”

“Hell yeah, Gale. Just don’t forget how awesome you are because of all of this.” 

“You think I’m awesome,” Gale said. Not a question, really, but Madge nodded in answer. Her smile had returned, a small little thing, like a flower just before it blossomed. “So are you.”

“Yeah, I know.” Gale’s chest jolted with a familiar pang that cleared everything in front of him in an instant. 

He could think about it later.

“I’m paying for your ride home, in case you didn’t know,” he said as they parked. Madge grinned as he pulled out his phone to order the Uber, settling back in the driver’s seat like she owned it. It was a nice look.

_No_, he had to think about that later. 

“Do you really still think about her?” Madge asked as they waited. The ride was a few minutes out so they had some time to kill, and with his thoughts lingering elsewhere it took Gale a moment to actually return his mind to Katniss.

Gale shrugged. “Yeah, but I mean.” He sighed. “It’s not the same.” 

“I’m sorry it’s so messy,” Madge told him gently. He didn’t feel the wave of pity that he normally did when someone apologized about all of this, but something else.

“I’m sorry you’re stuck in the middle of it too,” he murmured back. Madge started to lift her shoulders in a shrug but Gale shook his head. “If I ever make it more difficult--”

“You don’t,” she stopped him. Madge shook her head, her eyes darting from his eyes to his lips to the steering wheel. “I mean it can get complicated, but…” 

Gale wanted to know what made it complicated. Madge didn’t elaborate. 

Her car arrived soon after, and Gale watched her go with a thousand things he’d wanted to say still lodged in his throat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for all the love!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi friends! the next chapter is almost finished so should be posted in a few days. if you're still reading, thanks for sticking around! and thank you to everyone who left some love on the last chapter. idk who i'd be or where i'd be without gadge or the gadge fandom and the love and support you all gave me when i was a wee high schooler figuring it out, so if you're enjoying this story please know it wouldn't exist without you.
> 
> all my love <3

Everyone was right. Gale needed to talk to her. He owed it to himself. 

Monday night Gale alternated between Google searches of nearby therapists and his texts, trying to figure out what it was he wanted to say to Katniss. In the end, Gale sighed. His thumb hovered over the send button. It had been weeks since they talked, a text to start them off would be fine. 

He should’ve let Delly and crew help him draft it.

**Gale  
**Hope you’ve been doing alright.

His phone rang a couple of minutes later. To see Katniss’s name on his screen sent his anxiety spiking and he found himself standing to try and balance himself out again. He could just let it ring. He should just let it ring. 

But he answered. 

“Hello?” 

Maybe it was a butt dial. 

“Hey,” Katniss exhaled from the other end.

Not a butt dial.

“Hey,” Gale echoed back. 

“I’m driving,” Katniss finally said. “Or I would’ve texted you back, but.”

“Oh, sure.” 

Gale returned to silence. Slowly he lowered himself back down to sit. Eventually Katniss coughed to clear her throat. 

“So,” she began.

“So,” Gale returned. 

Katniss hesitated. “How’ve you been?”

Gale nearly laughed. “Things are fine,” he said. “Working a lot.”

“Yeah.” He didn’t ask how she was. Katniss sighed. “Can we just--talk?”

“That’s what we’re doing.”

“You know what I mean.”

Gale didn’t know what else he had to say to her. Katniss hurt him. Whether she meant to or not, she hurt him, and he was still trying to figure out how to put that behind them. Of course he would rather have Katniss in his life in some degree instead of not at all, but how was he supposed to navigate that when he still felt so broken? 

He decided to keep it simple. “Did you know I still had feelings for you?” Her silence on the other end was answer enough. “This fucking sucks, Katniss,” he said. “What do you want me to say? I miss you all the time but it’s never going to be the same and I don’t know what to _do _with that.” 

His throat was tight and even though they’d gone so long without talking, all of those shitty feelings rushed back without any regard to the work that Gale had done to move on. Maybe Gale needed more time, or maybe he needed less. Maybe what he needed to do was act like nothing had happened at all and see if his friendship with Katniss clicked back into place. He didn’t want to lose her either but he’d never felt like this before. 

“I didn’t know how to tell you,” she whispered. Gale shook his head, knowing she couldn’t see. “You’re my favorite person, Gale.” He really did laugh at that. “How was I supposed to tell you something I knew would hurt you?”

“Oh you’d rather me find out on fucking Facebook? Seriously Katniss? You _knew _ I would’ve rather heard it from you! And--!” He laughed again, louder. “Fuck you! Because it hurt me anyway!”

“I didn’t think it through,” she said firmly, holding her ground like Gale expected she would. He’d used his time away to build up his defenses and he only expected the same from her. “Okay? I know I fucked up but I can’t do anything about that now.”

Gale felt deflated. “No, I guess not.” 

Silence returned, and Gale didn’t want to be the one to break it.

“So is this just us now?” she asked. “We’re just never going to talk again because I made a mistake?”

“You made a _choice_,” Gale grit out angrily. He didn’t know how else to make it clear to her that Katniss legitimately hurt him. He couldn’t look at himself in the mirror now without thinking he’d never be worth anyone’s time ever again. “I’m your favorite person? Then why couldn’t you be honest with me? I just…” Gale trailed off and lifted his free hand to rub his face. “I just don’t know what else to do. The second you realized things were different with him--or the second you realized things with us weren’t going to…” he trailed off, knowing there was no way she could feel the same sort of ache that he did. “It would’ve been awful but I still just wish that you’d _said _something.”

“I know,” she whispered. “Me too.”

But there was nothing either of them could do about that anymore. Katniss broke his heart and here they were, months later, still fractured. Still, in the same breath, Gale realized something: This is why they wouldn’t have worked. 

Gale would’ve done anything for Katniss, but she wouldn’t do anything for him. He would’ve done whatever he could to ease the confusion or the hurt, would’ve tried again and again to patch things up between them. Katniss just didn’t care about him the same way that he cared about her. 

And that… wasn’t how relationships were supposed to be, anyway. Gale shouldn’t have had to _tell _Katniss how to treat him well. She should’ve just known. She should’ve just done it.

“We’ll figure it out,” Gale eventually told her. How to move forward. Because he knew it was impossible for him to untangle himself from her completely. 

“I really am sorry,” she said again. Her voice was tighter when she added, “I regret it all the time. And I miss you so much.” 

Gale sighed. Because as much as she missed him, as much as she still cared about him, it was never going to be the same. She had Peeta now, and whatever she and Gale had formed before was gone--different. The only thing they could do was keep up this unending cycle of grief and regret and missing one another without being able to really talk about it, or move on. 

Gale wanted to move on. 

“I believe you,” Gale settled with. He didn’t know if he could really accept the apology now, but he believed that she was genuine. “And I’m sorry I’ve…” he trailed off, unsure if he was really sorry or if he just felt like he also needed to apologize. “It’s still hard for me,” he admitted quietly. 

“I know. It’s okay.” 

Well. A fine place to start.

Gale wanted to change the subject. “Have you been doing okay?” he decided with. “Things been alright?” It’d been so long since he’d heard her voice, months of things happening to her that he didn’t know about. 

“Things have been fine,” Katniss told him. 

“How’s Prim?” 

Katniss fell silent. “Well.” 

“Well?” Gale pushed.

Her voice grew small. “Something happened a few weeks ago, but--”

Gale sat up in a rush. Any feelings associated with What’s Happened Between Him And Katniss were thrown out the window at the tone of her voice. Something was wrong. “What happened with Prim?”

“She’s fine,” Katniss rushed. “I mean--” her voice shook. “She’s fine _now_.”

“Catnip.” When Katniss was in college and Prim stayed home with their mom, things got rough. Mrs. Everdeen was always a real piece of work and as bright and optimistic as Prim always tried to be, Gale knew it wasn’t always easy for the younger girl. “Where is she?”

“She’s staying with me.”

“What happened?” he demanded again.

“She tried running away,” Katniss explained. “I figured Rory had told you.”

A wave of heat shot through Gale and made him dizzy. “She… where? Why?”

“She’s fine now,” Katniss said again.

“Why didn’t you say something?” he demanded. His booming voice filled his empty apartment and made the walls rattle. “Jesus Christ, Katniss!”

“I wanted to! But you said you needed time, and I didn’t think--”

“Fuck,” Gale cut her off. “You’re my fucking family. You _know _that! Emergencies are _always _above our shit!” Gale huffed. “My shit,” he tried to amend, but it didn’t quite feel right. “Fuck our shit. She’s okay?”

“She’s okay. Scary night though.”

“Fuck,” Gale cut her off again. 

He listened to Katniss sigh. If he’d had any idea how complicated falling in love with his best friend would’ve been back when he was 14, he would’ve made more of an effort to avoid it. There were too many layers here. Friendship, family, trust and love.

“You can always come to me,” Gale finally said. “It doesn’t matter what I say. You can always come to me, Katniss.”

She exhaled softly. “Okay.” 

Gale was still thinking about Prim. “So what’s going on, she’s staying with you?”

“Can’t stay with my mom,” Katniss muttered. “We’re figuring it out but she can’t be home alone with my mom. Peeta--” Katniss started, but stopped.

“It’s fine.”

“Peeta’s been really great with her,” Katniss eventually finished. “But she asks about you.” 

“She can text me,” Gale murmured. All of this was so frustrating in so many ways. Prim was practically Gale’s little sister and the fact that she felt like she couldn’t speak to him because of things with Katniss was stupid. “How bad was this, Katniss?” Gale asked, knowing his voice was verging on desperation. 

Prim’s a good kid. Not really a kid anymore, seeing as she’s in college, but things at home must’ve been really bad if she felt the need to pack up and run. Mrs. Everdeen wasn’t always the best mother figure.

“It wasn’t that bad. Got into a screaming match with mom and then just disappeared. Resurfaced in the morning in Delaware.” Delaware?! “Wanted to watch the sunrise on the beach. She’s okay now, seriously.” 

“I can’t believe Rory didn’t tell me.” He couldn’t believe _she _didn’t tell him. Even a courtesy text would’ve been okay. 

“Back in therapy, though. Mom is, I mean.” 

“That’s good.” Maybe Gale should look into therapy. Not that he’s planning on having screaming matches with his children if he ever has them, but could still be good for him. “What do you need from me? How can I help?”

Katniss sighed. “I just miss you,” she admitted. “It’s more like what you need from me. You wanted space.” 

He still wanted that, if he was being honest. At least physical space. 

“We could try texting,” Gale offered as his throat started to close. “This is still hard for me, Katniss.” 

“Texting is good,” Katniss rushed, clinging to his olive branch. “We can text. Start there.”

“Yeah.” This conversation drained him. “Okay. But I should go.” 

“Okay,” Katniss whispered back.

“Tell Prim I said hi,” Gale said.

“Tell her yourself.”

When they hung up the phone, Gale felt achey in ways he hadn’t anticipated. After sitting in the silence of his apartment for a few minutes, Gale dialed Rory’s number.

“Are you fucking calling me?” Rory answered.

“Don’t say fuck to me.”

“I’m 20 years old, Gale!”

“Why the fuck didn’t you tell me about Prim?” 

Rory fell silent on the other side. “It wasn’t that bad,” he said. “And I knew you’d worry and think about Katniss and Prim’s _good_ now, so it’s fine.”

Gale tried not to groan and only barely succeeded. “You don’t have to think about sparing my fucking feelings when it comes to things like that, Rory. Okay?” 

“Yeah, yeah, okay.”

“Katniss said she’s doing okay now?” 

“You talked to Katniss?”

“That’s not the bigger thing here.”

“Yes it is,” Rory countered. “I already told you Prim’s good now. The only thing that hasn’t been good is you and Katniss.” Gale wanted to strangle his younger brother. Just a little bit. “But so you’ve talked?”

“Kind of. When did this Prim thing happen?” Gale pushed.

“Couple of weeks ago. What do you mean kind of?” Rory countered. 

Gale shook his head even though Rory couldn’t see him. “I just wanted a second opinion on Prim,” he said evenly. “You drive out to see her?” 

Rory and Prim started dating their freshman year of high school even though they tried to keep it hidden from their families as long as they could. When college approached and Rory got a soccer scholarship to one school while Prim got a nursing one to another, they decided to try and make it work. Six years later and they were still going strong.

At least one of the Hawthorne brothers would end up with an Everdeen.

“Yeah, that weekend. But she’s commuting from Katniss’s place now.” Gale still couldn’t believe Prim had been in town a couple of weeks and this was the first he’d heard of it. “Katniss wants to get her out of their mom’s permanently.”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah,” Rory echoed again, softer. “It’s got me thinking.” Oh fuck. “Midway between our schools isn’t really that bad, and--”

“You can’t afford it,” Gale said, low. He could feel Rory’s silence. “I wish that you could, Rory, but you just can’t yet. Not with school _and _work _and _soccer.” Eventually Rory sighed. “Maybe soon. But not yet.”

“I miss her,” Rory whispered.

“I know.”

They chatted a little longer until Gale finally let Rory get back to homework or probably video games was more likely. After hanging up, Gale sent Prim a text. 

**Gale  
**Thinking of you.

She answered almost at once.

**Prim**  
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
Gale!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
I miss you!!!!!!! Come see me!!!!!!!!

**Gale  
**I hear some people are a lot of worried about you.

**Prim  
**Are you one of them?

**Gale  
**Should I be?

**Prim**  
No. Thank you though   
I still miss you!!!

**Gale**  
I miss you too.  
I’m glad you’re doing alright. 

But once that text was sent, Gale felt detached. He had too many thoughts that he couldn’t process which made things seem waterlogged. His stomach clenched and for a moment Gale felt like he might even cry. 

He needed an anchor.

Before he knew it he was scrolling through his contacts looking for the person he wanted to call. The silence in his apartment felt like it had physical weight to it as he listened to his phone ring. Convinced that he was being an idiot Gale went to pull his phone from his ear before the person on the other end picked up.

“Oh my God,” Madge answered. “I was just thinking about you!”

“Oh were you?” Gale responded. He knew Madge could likely hear the smile in his voice, the smile he didn’t even mean to be wearing. Her unexpected enthusiasm warmed the part of him that had frozen over the last hour in an instant. “What for?” 

“Well wouldn’t you know it,” Madge said. “I’m making mac and cheese for one again.”

Gale couldn’t help himself from laughing. Too many emotions inside of him had him feeling a little hysterical. “Where are Thom and Delly?”

“Movies, I think. It’s Tuesday so it’s _date night_ or else I would’ve found a way to tag along.”

“What are they seeing?”

“I don’t even know,” Madge admitted. “But it’s fine. What’s up?”

“Hm?”

He listened to Madge’s soft laughter on the other end. “You called me?”

“Oh.” Right. He’d called her. 

“You okay?” she pushed, sounding a little more serious.

How was he supposed to tell her that he’d just wanted to hear her voice? 

“Weird day,” Gale eventually murmured. 

“Yeah? Wanna talk about it?” 

Did he? More than anything Gale wanted to talk about Prim. He’d helped Katniss basically raise her after their father died and while Katniss tried her hardest to take care of them both Gale knew that Prim struggled more on her own. He felt a sense of responsibility for the both of them and all of it had gotten cloudy because of Katniss and Gale’s relationship. 

But it had been the first time in a long time that he really talked to Katniss, too. Which felt important. Part of him wanted to tell Madge. Hold it over his head like it was a victory to be adorned--that he’d gotten through one (horrible) phone call without falling to pieces. But was that because the concern about Prim won out? Or was the ache in his stomach really lessened?

“No,” Gale eventually answered. Madge didn’t exist to bear the weight of his emotions. He’d process them on his own for a bit. “That’s okay. How was your day?” 

Madge accepted his out and launched into another wonderfully fun story about her office mates and her non-profit job. She was frustrated about how her supervisor was handling a certain situation and while Gale had absolutely no idea of the intricacies of it, she asked for his advice anyway. 

When his phone buzzed a little later he pulled it away to check the screen on reflex to find the _battery low _alert. After exiting it and shifting on the couch so he could reach his charger, Gale looked back to his phone and realized that they’d been talking for a while. Like, over an hour. 

The warm feeling that had rushed over him upon hearing Madge’s voice at first slowly started to freeze back into ice.

What the fuck was he doing?

“Hey,” he interrupted Madge in the middle of her ramble about sexism in superhero movies. “I should go.”

“Oh. Yeah, of course. Sorry,” she laughed a little, but Gale knew it wasn’t genuine. 

“No, it’s fine. I should just sleep soon.”

“For sure.” 

Feelings of ice and fire raged in his chest, confusion and want but mostly confusion before Gale managed to remember he should say something. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me for talking to you like a normal person,” Madge responded.

“No. That’s--” he exhaled. “For answering.” 

“Oh.” Madge was quiet a second longer. “That weird of a day?” she asked softly. He should’ve hung up but it was so easy to lean into the gentle lull of her voice. Gale closed his eyes and tried to think of what to say. “We could get coffee this weekend, or something,” she offered in the silence. “And not talk about it.”

His heart clenched. “That’d be nice.” 

Even her laugh was soft. “So Saturday morning? Middle Grounds?” 

Gale exhaled. “Yeah.”

“I’ll text you,” Madge said. “Night, Gale.” 

“Goodnight.”

Even after hanging up with her, Gale couldn’t move. He cradled his phone against his chest and couldn’t figure out if the smile on his face belonged there or not. 

_She crept up on me_, Gale remembered hearing Finnick say about Annie, and his heart turned in his chest when he considered the same with Madge.

He hadn’t anticipated this. Gale was very normally good at seeing how things would play out and planning for all possible outcomes. He was a quick thinker with a sharp mind and Madge had slipped in without him even realizing it.

**Gale  
**Are you awake?

**Finnick**  
Yeah  
What’s up?

**Gale  
**I talked to Katniss today.

**Finnick  
**How was that?

**Gale  
**Shitty but whatever.

**Finnick  
**Okay…? 

**Gale  
**Can I call you?

His phone was ringing a second later. “What’s going on?” Finnick asked when Gale answered. It’d been a while since he spent this much time on the phone. His mouth felt dry and his eyes were heavy with the need to sleep and there was something about actual conversations over the phone that physically exhausted him. “How’s Kat?”

“You know that she’s fine,” Gale answered. 

“True, I guess. How’s Gale?”

“Gale’s fine,” Gale grumbled. “Gale’s confused.”

“What’s Gale confused about?”

“Okay, enough third person that’s fucking weird.” 

Finnick laughed on the other end. “Talk to me, Hawthorne.” He wanted to. Gale wanted to say something very badly but somehow the only response he had to Finnick was silence. “What are you thinking about?” Finnick prompted after some time had passed.

Gale sank backwards in his seat. “I don’t like feeling like this.”

“Confused?” Finnick offered.

Yeah, and afraid. Afraid that he was making these new feelings up, afraid that he was confusing things with Katniss for feelings for Madge, afraid that even if he did figure out how he felt that no one would ever feel the same for him--_especially _not Madge. 

“I’m worried,” he finally said. “That… I’m never going to figure it out.”

He won’t heal right, no one will love him or feel the same because of his experiences, he’ll never find another person to genuinely connect with. The list went on and on the anxiety never seemed to fade.

“You will.” Finnick knew he needed to hear it. “I know you will. You’re a good guy, Gale. You care about people a lot more than you want anyone to know. Someone with a heart that big deserves love.” 

He wanted to say something self-deprecating and cold but the evening had drained him. “I hope so,” he murmured quietly.

“I _know _so,” Finnick pushed. 

Still there was an ache that he couldn’t get rid of. “What if I’m not ready yet?” he whispered.

“Then you’re not ready yet.”

That wasn’t the answer Gale wanted to hear. “I want to be,” Gale explained. 

He was tired of waiting around for the ache inside of him to change. He’d done the things he was supposed to do. He focused more on himself, invested more in his friends, binged a new show on Netflix, considered adopting a dog. Gale called home more and ate more vegetables than previously and went on a date. But even without speaking to her Gale hadn't been able to turn off the Katniss part of his brain.

“I know. Unfortunately my only advice is to fake it ‘til you make it, man.” Gale exhaled sharply, wishing it was easier. “One day it’s just going to be different. You’ll realize it’s changed and all that work you’ve been doing won’t have been for nothing. I know that’s not what you want to hear.”

But maybe it was what he needed to hear. Things had already started feeling different, he was just afraid of what that meant. 

“Madge and I are getting coffee Saturday morning.”

“Madge?” Finnick echoed. “Our Madge? Getting _coffee_, like, getting? Madge _Undersee_?”

Quietly Gale answered, “I don’t know.” His phone chimed with the _low battery _alert again. “My phone’s going to die,” he said.

“Wait, wait wait wait,” Finnick hurried. “No. Plug your phone in. You and Madge are getting coffee?”

“I’ll text you after,” Gale said.

“Oh my God.” Gale hung up before Finnick could say anything else but texted him a quick _thanks _before getting ready for bed. 

* * *

Saturday morning when Gale made it to the cafe that Madge had texted him about the night before, he found her tucked in a booth with a mug cradled between her hands. Her hair was thrown into a messy bun and she looked sleepy but happy. He ordered quickly before sliding into the booth across from her.

“Morning,” he greeted. 

“Good morning,” Madge returned.

He eyed her drink, foamy and colorful. “Is that just sugar, then?”

She took a big drink with a smile. “What’d you get, something without any flavor?”

“Ha ha.” 

When they dropped off his black coffee a few minutes later Madge rolled her eyes but didn’t say anything. It didn’t feel any different than some of the times they’ve hung out before, but they’d never planned to just hang out the two of them like this. 

Maybe that just meant they were friends.

Of course they were friends. Gale was being an idiot, reading into things that weren’t there. Madge was a kind woman. She didn’t have ulterior motives. Just because Gale had noticed a shift within himself didn’t mean that she had. 

They spent the morning chatting over their coffee while Gale ignored every small burst of warmth that erupted in his chest at the things Madge would say or the things Madge would do. He couldn’t fall face first into something like this--not something with Madge. Not happening. 

**Finnick  
**Update!

Gale flipped his phone upside down so he wouldn’t have to look at the screen.

“Have you talked to Katniss?” Gale eventually asked.

Madge nodded. “Yeah. Have you?”

He wanted her to elaborate more but in the end, nodded as well. “Yeah. How’d it go for you?”

Madge shrugged. “She’s emotionally inept sometimes, but I love her.”

“Yeah,” Gale agreed tiredly. “I know what you mean.” He looked up quickly. “The emotionally inept,” he rushed. Madge smiled, shaking her head as though she’d already known what it was Gale had meant. “Fucking exhausting,” he admitted.

“But it went okay?” she wondered. 

Gale shrugged too. “I guess. Not really any solutions but we both got to talk.” He kept his eyes down, focused on his nearly empty coffee mug instead. “We both said some things I already knew but think I still needed to hear.”

“Yeah,” Madge agreed. “Sounds like it.”

Gale nudged her foot below the table, finding a smile to wear. “Did you talk about me?” he wondered. Madge’s smile was mischievous and she rolled her eyes a little. “Is that a yes?”

“That’s a mind your own business.”

“That’s not an answer.”

Madge propped her chin up in her hands and looked at him. “A little bit,” she eventually admitted.

Gale mimicked her pose. “Say more.”

“We have our own issues,” Madge responded. “Me and Kat. But a lot of it stems from how uninvolved she feels in our friendship. And I already told you I didn’t like how she handled things with you. So I kind of wrapped it all up into one. Her treatment of her friends. I guess.” 

“Sounds brutal,” Gale told her.

“Well you know Katniss,” Madge murmured. “I don’t know. It was fine. I feel okay about it.”

Gale felt okay about his conversation with Katniss too. In fact, talking to her kind of quieted the loud voice in his head that always reminded him of her. For the past couple of months as he tried to sort himself out, Katniss lived on in his thoughts as the incredible women that he’d fallen in love with. But being able to talk to her reminded him that who he thought she was wasn’t necessarily the truth. 

“Did you talk about me?” Madge tossed back.

Gale arched an eyebrow. “No.” Then, in the spirit of honesty. “We talked about Prim, actually,” he said, sinking backwards in his seat. The look on Madge’s face led Gale to believe that Madge knew what had happened with Prim too. “It’s just…” he didn’t know how to word it. “We used to tell each other everything, no matter what. And talking to her made me realize how far away we really are from each other right now.” He shook his head and waved it off quickly. “Okay. Enough about Katniss,” Gale decided. 

Madge nodded once in agreement, smile back full force. They talked about their plans for the afternoon (neither of them had any so they agreed to shop around nearby) before that drifted into talking about their families. It felt nice to be able to set Katniss beside him and not let her hover in the back of his mind as they spoke. 

**Finnick  
**Shall I text her instead?

**Gale  
**We’re going to a bookstore 

**Finnick  
**Obsessed with this 

She wanted to pick something up for her aunt and Gale didn’t have anything else to do so he figured he might get something for his mom. There was no real rush about their day, not very scheduled and almost entirely unplanned, when Gale’s phone started ringing. 

He stepped outside to answer the call instead of talk inside the fairly quiet shop.

“Hey,” he greeted.

“Are you coming tonight or tomorrow?” Vick said on the other end. “Ma’s convinced it’s tonight but I swear you said tomorrow.” 

“Well if I come tonight I could stay until tomorrow,” Gale offered.

“But so then you’re coming tonight.” 

Gale turned and glanced into the wide windows of the store to look for Madge but he knew she was a few aisles in. “Haven’t decided. What do you prefer?”

“I’m going to the movies with Rob tomorrow so I’d prefer tonight.” 

“Oh? And what are you seeing with Rob?”

“Text me when you know!” Vick hung up and Gale slipped his phone back into his pocket before returning to the shop. It took him a little bit to find Madge but she was reading the back of something when he finally did. 

“Everything okay?” she asked.

“Yeah. Just trying to figure out if I’m visiting home tonight or tomorrow.”

Madge closed the book. “Everything okay there?” 

Gale nodded and watched as she put it back on the shelf. “Yeah, just promised I’d join them for a meal one of these days.”

Madge’s smile was sweet. “You should go tonight,” she said.

“Yeah?” 

Madge shrugged. “Why not?”

“You could come,” Gale offered. His voice was measured but his heart picked up speed in his chest the moment he’d said it. This was not something Gale had planned to do. “It’d give me an excuse to not stay the night,” he added quickly. “They’re only half an hour out, really.” 

“Sure.”

“Really?”

She shrugged. “What else am I doing?” Madge laughed a little. “Unless you were joking? Which--you were probably joking.”

“No--oh God, come with me,” Gale urged. “My mom thinks I’m a hermit she’ll be relieved to know that I actually have friends.” 

Somehow it wasn’t awkward. Gale convinced himself that it would be, but Madge bought the journal she’d picked out and then Gale agreed to follow her home so she could drop off her car. 

**Gale**  
Coming tonight  
Bringing a friend so we won’t stay

**Vick**  
I’ll tell ma  
see you soon!!

Twenty minutes later they were on their way, Madge scrolling through her phone to look for something to play while telling Gale about this big work fundraiser she has coming up. She’d only just put on a song (not Glee, thankfully) when Gale’s screen flashed that someone was calling him. 

Which he should ignore. But then that ran the risk of getting a text, and Madge seeing the text, and well.

Gale hit to answer. “Hello?” 

“Gale!” Finnick greeted. “Why haven’t you--”

“Madge is here in the car with me now,” Gale rushed in the most neutral voice possible. “We’re on our way to visit home.”

“Hi Finnick,” Madge called.

“Margaret!” She rolled her eyes at the name but smiled, which made Gale smile. “You’re going to see Gale’s, then?”

“It’s not too far,” Gale said. “I’ll call you later.”

“Yes, you’d better.” 

Gale ended the call quickly and tried to fight off the burn that was creeping up his neck. Madge didn’t seem to notice, carrying on the conversation that they’d been having before Finnick called, but Gale still felt like he had a giant sign pointing to him that read _idiot with a crush_.

Fifteen or so minutes later Gale pulled into his old neighborhood, parking in one of the many open spots outside the townhouse he grew up in. 

Gale wouldn’t say that he’d gotten over the grief that came with growing up poor, but he didn’t feel like there was a chip on his shoulder anymore because of it. Besides, Madge lit up when she saw the tree in the front of his small yard, the only yard with foliage, and beckoned for Gale to come closer.

“This tree raised you,” she said. “You owe it a gran-plant.”

“Shut up,” Gale laughed. They didn’t stop to knock but Gale elbowed his way through the door, calling out through the house for anyone. Hazelle stuck her head out from the kitchen and Gale grinned. “Hey, Ma.”

“I thought Vick said you were bringing Thom,” Hazelle said, hurrying out to greet them. 

“Hi,” Madge said, hurrying forward and offering a hand. “You must be Hazelle.”

“Madge, right?” Hazelle ignored the open hand and pulled her in for a hug which only made Gale’s neck start burning again. Friends or not, Gale probably shouldn’t have invited Madge here. He would melt at how easy it would be for Madge to step into his home. “You went to Capitol too, I remember,” she said pulling back. Then, to Gale. “Here you finally are, ten years later.”

“Hi Ma,” Gale said another time, opening his arms for her. “Sorry,” he murmured as they hugged. 

“He’s been avoiding me,” Hazelle told Madge in a mock-whisper. 

“Here I am,” Gale said as they parted. “And you always say the more the merrier, so here’s Madge too.” 

“I didn’t have plans,” Madge elaborated. Then, maybe thinking Hazelle might find that rude, rushed, “And Gale’s always going on about how great you are, I thought it’d be nice to meet you.”

Hazelle grinned. “I’m glad you didn’t have plans,” she said. Hazelle invited them into the kitchen where she was rinsing some fruit from their garden in the back and out the window Gale could see Vick and Posy out plucking away. 

He pushed open a window and called out to them, and soon enough his siblings had joined them in the kitchen. Vick offered Madge some strawberries and Posy pulled up her phone to ask Madge her advice on a boy almost immediately and Gale was burning, still, like the late-July afternoon sun. 

They spent time in the garden themselves and Gale showed Madge his childhood bedroom which thankfully in the time since had turned into his mom’s craft room so there wasn’t too much for her to snoop around in. It was a long afternoon but a good one. Madge got along with his mom and Posy adored her and it felt normal and good which was the biggest relief of all.

Hazelle waited until they were alone to ask about Katniss.

“We’ve talked,” Gale told her. “It’s a process.”

“I swear I almost Angry Reacted,” Hazelle said, meaning to Katniss’s Facebook relationship. Gale couldn’t help but smile. “I still can’t believe she did that!” She peered over Gale’s shoulder toward the living room, even though Madge and Posy were out of earshot. “They were roommates?” Hazelle prompted.

“Oh my God,” Vick said, texting without looking up as he entered the kitchen, “they were _roommates_.” He paused once he came to Gale and Hazelle’s side, finally lowering his phone. “Madge and Katniss were, right? Madge is cool.” 

“Mm-hm.” Neutrality was the best move for now. “She lives at Thom’s,” Gale reminded them both. Making it less about him and the fact that he wanted to bring her here and more about look, we know similar people, this was not a big deal at all. 

Hazelle nodded, remembering. “Oh, of course!” Then, suspiciously, “Small circle of friends, Gale.”

“Still better than when it was just Katniss,” Vick offered.

“We’ll leave after dinner,” Gale said, flat, not wanting to get into it. 

“She’s very lovely,” Hazelle told him, which only served to make Gale’s stomach turn. “If that’s--something you’re interested in…?” 

“She is literally sitting in the living room Ma,” Gale rushed under his breath. “Would you like to pull out a megaphone and shout it?”

So much for staying subtle.

Hazelle and Vick exchanged a glance and smile, and without saying anything Vick went back to texting and left them both alone in the kitchen. Gale sighed, turning away from his mother as she waited for him to say something else. 

“So that’s a yes?” Hazelle eventually wondered, softer than before. Gale sighed again, still no words for her. “You never bring anyone home, Gale, what did you expect me to think?”

Gale’s voice was quiet as he told her, “It’s complicated. Like--exhausting and complicated and I don’t want to get into it right now. Okay?”

“Because of Katniss.”

“Because of a lot of reasons,” Gale insisted. “Please don’t say anything?” 

Hazelle looked at him for a long time before she reached up with one of her hands to cup his cheek. “My sweet boy,” she said gently. “You have so much love to give.” Suddenly, Gale felt like he was going to cry. He leaned into her hand and Hazelle’s smile grew, just a little bit. “You’ll figure it out,” she promised him. 

Gale reached up to cover her hand with his own as his eyes fell shut. “Could you say it again?” he whispered back.

“You’ll figure it out,” Hazelle repeated. The sureness of her voice was enough to steady Gale. “I promise.” Gale nodded and Hazelle pulled her hand back, but before she could get too far Gale reached out and tugged her into his arms. 

He loved his mother. No fucking idea what he’d do with her. “Thanks Ma,” he rasped.

They stayed like that for a little bit before they finally let go of one another and returned to the living room. Posy had Madge sitting by the window with her as they looked out at a bird feeder they’d just put up, watching for arrivals. 

“Ma said I can get a tattoo when I turn 18,” Posy was saying as they approached. “So I already have three picked out.”

“And they’re all birds?” Madge asked.

“Obviously yes.” 

Gale shook his head but smiled. Madge turned at the sound of them approaching and smiled, too.

Yeah. He’d figure it out.

* * *

“You could come in,” Madge offered.

They’d just arrived back to Madge’s place, or well, Thom’s place, and the sun had been down for a bit, and Gale felt weird. Like there was too much space in the car, or maybe the air was too stuffy. 

“Long day,” Gale decided, “I should probably go home.”

Madge nodded, unbuckling. “For sure.” She reached for the handle with a smile and said, “Your family’s cool.”

“Mostly,” he agreed. “Thanks for coming.” Madge nodded again, her hand still on the handle, but she stayed put. His heart continued to pound in his chest. She wasn’t lingering for any reason other than to linger, Gale knew, but his brain didn’t want to believe that. 

They spent the whole day together.

Coffee, bookstore, driving to Gale’s place, an afternoon that bled into an evening with his family. It was all very intimate in a way that Gale wasn’t used to. But that didn’t mean it _meant _something. They were just two friends, growing closer. Still none of it had been awkward. There were maybe moments that felt longer than others but for Gale the day had been practically perfect. 

Could it be possible that she felt it, too?

“Text me when you’re home?” Madge asked. 

“I will.” 

They said their goodbyes and as soon as Gale saw Madge enter the house he shifted into drive to pull away. He was barely on the road before he dialed Finnick’s number.

“Gale,” Finnick answered. “I’ve been waiting by the phone for hours. Tell me everything.”

“I’m so fucked Finnick,” Gale responded at once. 

He started with the coffee then the shopping then talked about home and Finnick listened along, making the right noises at all the right moments. Even once Gale made it back to his place he sat in his car, rambling to Finnick about what an idiot he was, how stupid he’d been to fall for _Madge _of all people, and that was when Finnick cut him off.

“You’re not an idiot. And it’s not stupid that you fell for her. Madge is great, Gale.” 

He groaned. “That’s part of the problem.”

“It’s not a problem that you found a woman who excites you. It’s not a problem that you’ve started developing feelings for someone you’ve recently become friends with. Understand?” 

“No, it is a problem, because Katniss and I were friends before it all fucking fell apart and I can’t--” Gale stopped himself, afraid. 

Finnick stayed quiet for a moment before prompting, “Can’t what?” 

“I can’t do it again,” Gale explained. “Let another person in for them to just decide I’m not fucking worth it at random.”

“That isn’t what happened with Katniss,” Finnick said immediately. “And it won’t happen with Madge. Gale--part of the risk of putting yourself out there is the fact that it might not work out. That you’ll get hurt. Which is why it’s so goddamn rewarding when it works out.”

“I know, but…” he trailed off. “I don’t know.” 

Katniss was his best friend before she broke his heart and while he desperately wanted things with Katniss to friendly again, he knew it wouldn’t be easy. Maybe in time they could figure out how to walk in step beside one another again but for now they were practically strangers. 

And the thought of Madge becoming a stranger now wasn't something he wanted to think about. 

“How was today?” Finnick asked. 

Gale’s chest tightened. “So good,” he whispered. Just so fucking good. So easy and never awkward and just wonderful in ways that continued to make Gale afraid. “I haven’t told Thom.” 

“Hmmm. Who have you told?”

“You.”

“Yes!” Finnick cheered. “Alright! I love knowing things free of charge.” Gale exhaled a laugh and shook his head a little bit, not sure how to continue. “Just go day by day, Gale,” Finnick said as though he’d heard Gale’s thoughts. “It doesn’t need a solution tonight.” 

“Yeah,” he agreed tiredly. “You’re right.” 

He thanked Finnick for the talk before finally hanging up and climbing out of his car. He’d only just gotten inside when he received a text.

**Madge  
**did you forget to text me or are you dead

**Gale  
**Just walked in the door, please relax.

**Madge**  
it’s been a long time!!  
today was fun

**Gale**  
It was  
I’m glad you came with me. 

Already having had a long day Gale started getting ready for bed almost immediately. He was looking forward to crawling beneath the covers and letting sleep claim him. 

But Madge texted again.

**Madge  
**i’m glad you invited me 

Even after he was under the blankets in bed he grabbed his phone again, typing out a response. 

**Gale  
**My siblings liked you, which is the only thing that matters really so great work

**Madge**  
oh thank god they’re both so cool  
how could i live with myself if they didn’t like me

**Gale**  
Okay, they’re not that cool  
Also you still have to meet Rory

**Madge**  
yes they are that cool  
and yes great point when can i meet rory

**Gale**  
He’s got a game coming up  
Maybe we could go

Idiot. Madge wouldn’t want to go to a college soccer game.

**Madge  
**aw, that’d be fun!

Gale’s so fucked.

**Madge  
**also since when do you garden???

**Gale**  
I don’t  
Hence no plants. 

**Madge  
**i’m getting you a plant if it kills me

**Gale**  
Ma’s got the green thumb  
Swear she’s turning Posy into a hippie  
Or a witch

**Madge  
**I LOVE THEM

**Gale**  
Haha  
I’m okay with it.

**Madge**  
me loving them? cool  
as you had no say in the matter

**Gale**  
No about Posy being a hippie witch.  
But it’s cool you love them too  
I also love them

**Madge**  
hippie witch posy hawthorne for president 2030  
the future liberals want

Gale chuckled to himself in bed, not sure the last time he felt quite like this. Something about Madge made Gale’s chest feel as though someone had reached in and expanded his lungs, making it easier to breathe. 

**Gale  
**Your turn.

**Madge  
**for?

**Gale  
**Now I should get to come home with you

**Madge**  
hahaha no way  
you invited me and my dad’s crazy

**Gale**  
You can invite me!  
How is your dad crazy why don’t I know this

**Madge**  
my mom’s crazy too the whole lot of them  
not happening  
maybe my aunt may but that’s all you get

**Gale**  
You have an Aunt May?  
Are you Spider-Man

**Madge**  
yeah and don’t you forget it  
but aunt maysilee’s like… my sanity idk  
my dad’s a rich conservative asshole   
my mom’s always on pills  
you could meet my butler

**Gale  
**You don’t have a butler

**Madge  
**bernard would be angry to hear you say that 

**Gale**  
Jesus Madge  
Not at Bernard but I didn’t know any of that 

**Madge  
**yes you did because you thought i was a rich conservative asshole too 

“What?” she answered the phone moments later, Gale having not wasted any time in dialing. Her voice was quiet, like she was whispering, maybe in bed herself. 

“I never thought you were a conservative asshole,” Gale whispered back. “Don’t say shit like that.”

"Just a rich one," she countered.

"Madge."

She sighed on the other end. “Sorry,” she murmured.

“No, just.” Gale sighed, too. They were both quiet. There were things he wanted to say that might’ve been easier said as a text, but he’d been the one to call her. Now they were here, like this. “Did you really have a butler?”

“He’s more like a butler nanny tutor maid,” Madge countered thoughtfully, still quiet. “But yeah. He takes care of my mom now.” Silence returned. "So not a rich asshole, then?” 

Gale closed his eyes. “When can we let this one go?” he asked. He wasn’t sure if Madge was making a joke or if she was serious but either way, Gale wanted it to end. 

“I’m sorry,” she said again.

“No,” Gale tried another time, frustrated with himself that he couldn’t put it into words. “That just isn’t who I am anymore.” 

College had been the first taste of freedom Gale had gotten since his father died, and with that came opinions that were loud and unchecked, a personality that was maybe just a little too rough around the edges. He didn’t like that version of himself. He’d grown since then. Particularly here, in this, a friendship with Madge, which constantly had him regretting his past behavior. 

“I didn’t mean it like… _you_,” she said on the other end. “Like… it was supposed to be a knock on me. I’m sorry--I know you’re not…” 

“Well don’t knock on yourself,” Gale grumbled. He was both relieved and saddened to hear her say that. 

“Sorry, I feel weird. I don’t normally…” she trailed off. “Talk about my mom?” 

Gale fell silent. “Oh.” Then quickly, “We don’t have to.”

“No, I don’t know.” She sighed. “She’s been better lately. Or well, not better, but not as bad.” Softer still, “She’ll call sometimes.”

Gale curled on his side. “What happened?” 

Madge whispered him a story of a woman who got sick, recovered yet addicted, struggling with a life in bed instead of with her family. Madge painted her childhood like she was a stuffed doll tossed from room to room, following around her important father, while her ghost of a mother wailed behind closed doors and slept for days at a time.

“It was easier once I left,” Madge told him sometime later. They’d been on the phone for so long it had started to feel like she was there beside him in bed, her golden hair fanned out on the pillow next to his own. He wished she were, that he could slide his hand into hers, squeeze every time her voice shook. “Bernard says she misses me, but I don’t know.” 

“It’s okay that you don’t want to. Or if you’re not ready.” 

She sighed. “I don’t know,” Madge admitted. “Maybe both are true. May says I don’t owe her anything, but she’s always been a little protective of me.” 

“Sounds like it.” In her story Madge had wound in her Aunt Maysilee, a woman who used kindness like a knife and would always fight harder than she needed to so she could protect the people she cared about. At first at had been Madge’s mother, but after that it grew like a shield around Madge. Snuck her out for ice cream at night, got her out of boring government functions. “When can I meet her?” 

“Hmmm.” He could hear the smile in her voice. Gale wanted to live in this hazy space that they’d created. He smiled himself. “May or Mom?” 

“Whoever you want me to meet.”

“You can meet May whenever she gets back from Portland,” Madge answered easily. “If she ever comes back. I swear she’s trying to stay there. But, I dunno. Maybe that’s good.”

There was something about the room like this, half-lit, half-asleep himself, that made Gale yearn for something just beyond what was here. “Well then we could go visit her,” he whispered. “Whenever she’s settled.”

“Yeah,” she whispered back. 

“I’ve never been to Portland.”

“Me neither. I mean--she might not stay there.”

“Oh, sure.”

“We could still go though.”

He smiled. “You’d want to?” 

She hummed. “I hear it’s beautiful out there.” 

It’d been getting harder and harder to keep himself awake but now he let himself drift there, the two of them on the shores of Oregon, hand in hand. “Yeah,” he agreed quietly. “Me too.” 

“Gale?” 

“Mm.” 

“I wish you were here.”

Her words made everything in his chest clench tight. “Me too,” he said another time. If he reached across to the other side of the bed, it was almost as though the space had just been left. Still warm from her. “Or you were here,” he whispered, softer, almost strangled.

Something like this, sharing these soft whispers with Madge, it was both beautiful and terrifying. He’d never done this before, not with anyone. Back in high school he’d always been too busy to have those late night phone calls, and in college he and Katniss hadn’t ever been the type. This was intimate in ways he’d never expected it to be. Gale couldn’t dare to call it romantic. 

But she whispered, “Yeah,” and Gale wanted it to be romantic. 

He wanted something like this with Madge all the time. 

“We should sleep,” he murmured. His heart was starting to pick up pace again, the realization of what their long day meant really settling in. “You must be sick of me.” 

“I’m not. But you’re right.” She sighed a little. “Goodnight, Gale.” 

“Oh that fast?” 

She laughed a little. “Shh. Go to sleep.”

“Goodnight,” he whispered back, a smile on his face.

They hung up and Gale set his phone on his side table, still smiling like he’d been told a secret he wasn’t allowed to know. It expanded inside of him, warmed him with every beat of his heart. 

Gale liked Madge. 

He fell asleep much later, once his nerves had settled and the haze of all of it finally settled in.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey there! sorry for the wait. hope you enjoy the chapter - let me know if you're liking it!

Gale woke with the sunlight and the thought of Madge. 

_I wish you were here, _she’d said.

Gale smiled to himself as he climbed out of bed and started going about his morning. He thought about calling his mom and talking about his feelings, or calling Thom and finally admitting what was going on with him, or maybe even Finnick and just rambling a little so he could center his thoughts.

It’d been a long time since he’d had a _crush_ and he wasn’t sure what to do about it. He thought about texting her but didn’t want to suffocate her after their long day together yesterday. Gale tried to remind himself that just because he was feeling this way didn’t mean Madge did, even after everything.

As easy as it used to be for him to ease into his confidence, this was different. Things with Katniss had skewered how he looked at himself and that uncertainty was unfamiliar but prevalent. 

And Madge, she was a person who devoted herself to her friends. How she behaved in friendship was considerably different than how Katniss did, or even Delly for example, so Gale couldn’t be sure he wasn’t reading into things. Still, friendship with Madge made Gale feel a sense of bravery that he’d been missing for a few months. He felt inspired, optimistic. 

He wanted to try something new. 

**Gale  
**Hello. If I hosted dinner at my place Wednesday night, would anyone be able to come? Been a while since we had everyone together. 

**Thom  
**Obvi there

**Finnick  
**We are THERE

**Johanna  
**Fuuuuuckyes please  
Love being classy adults who do dinner now

**Gale  
**Have to schedule in friendship every now and then 

**Katniss  
**That’d be so fun  
I think we’re free, we’ll definitely come. 

Madge still hadn’t texted back yet, but finally around 2 in the afternoon his phone buzzed. 

**Madge  
**omg  
gale  
are you hosting a dinner party??????

**Gale  
**Did you just wake up?

**Madge  
**not the point 

**Gale  
**It’s been a while since we’ve seen everyone.  
Also this way I’m in control of the variables.

**Madge  
**LMAO  
omg wait when’s your birthday  
what’s your zodiac

**Gale  
**Nope, not doing this.

**Madge  
**Thom will tell me

She texted in the group chat too. 

**Madge  
**my my how the times change

* * *

So maybe hosting dinner for his friends was more of an excuse to see Madge than anything else, so what? Gale also loved his friends and was trying to usher in a new age of Not Being Depressed and Isolating Himself in his Apartment. He could multitask. 

Also, being around Katniss in a group setting would probably make things easier. 

The day of, Madge showed up early with a bottle of wine. “You’ll need this,” she said as he opened the door, thrusting it into his hands. 

“People aren’t coming for another hour,” Gale told her.

“Good for them.” She walked past him right for the kitchen. “How many dinner parties have you hosted?”

“Well I wasn’t raised in Casa Undersee,” Gale said as he followed after her, more amused than he expected to be. “So none.”

She turned back to him once they reached his kitchen. “And your plan?” she asked. 

“I know how to cook food for people, Madge,” Gale said with a laugh. He was in the middle of it when she arrived. “I’m assuming you’re here to help?”

“Obviously yes. And give you wine. You said Katniss was coming.” 

Gale looked down at the bottle in his hands and nodded slowly. “We’ll both have one,” he decided, and Madge nodded in agreement. 

It was both strange and comforting to feel like he was going into something with Madge at his side--especially the something being Katniss. But he was more glad for it than anything else. 

Madge finished her glass in record time and still managed to help Gale finish setting up the platter area. She poured her second one with ease and they were both ready and waiting for the first guests to arrive with excess time. 

There was a knock on the door promptly at 7 and Gale knew that it was Katniss and Mellark. He turned to Madge, more grateful than words that he didn’t have to do it alone. 

“Let me answer,” Madge said rushing forward. “It’ll be funny.” 

He elbowed her out of the way with a laugh. “No, go away.” She raised her hands in defeat and smiled softly before disappearing around the corner and out of sight, back to her wine. 

Once she was gone Gale took a few steadying breaths before opening the door. Katniss and Peeta stood together on the other side.

“Gale!” Peeta greeted, rushing into it before anyone else could say anything. He extended his hand, urgent but friendly. “It’s great to see you,” he said. 

Gale slowly accepted the handshake. “Are we at a business meeting, Mellark?”

Peeta laughed and swung around his other hand, which had been hiding a basket. “Fine, how about some fresh bread?” 

“Bread is great,” Gale said, reaching out to take the basket. “Thanks.”

“Hey Gale,” Katniss finally said. 

He stepped out of the way so they both could enter. “Come on in. Undersee’s already here.”

“Madge!” Peeta cheered. Katniss guided Peeta forward, who entered in a rush, and lingered back so it was just her and Gale. “Help,” Peeta called into the apartment. “I need wine!”

Once he’d rounded the corner Katniss stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Gale in a surprisingly tight hug. Something inside of him loosened but it didn’t feel the same as it used to. Instead he held hugged her back, propping his chin on the top of her head. 

“Thanks for doing this,” Katniss said as they parted. 

_Wasn’t for you_, Gale wanted to tell her. 

Bit by bit their friends trickled in. Thom and Delly were next, then Finnick and Annie. Darius and Johanna came together too but only because they both lived a little far and it made more sense to carpool. People mingled and drank and eventually sat for food and it was all totally fine. 

He and Katniss talked about work and their families and it wasn’t awkward, really, but it wasn’t easy either. He didn’t have much to say to Peeta and thankfully the other man never pushed. When he had moments with Madge, tucked in the kitchen getting something else to drink or down the hallway like they’d both been aiming for a moment alone, Gale tried to remind himself that there hadn’t been any real change in their friendship. 

He didn’t need to get his hopes up. But he did like spending time with her. 

“It’s nice having everyone together,” Finnick said at one point, which kind of made Gale’s heart break a little bit, but it was true. It’d been awhile since they’d brought most of their friends together, and Gale couldn’t help but feel like part of that was his fault. 

When he wasn’t stumbling through conversation with Katniss or chatting with Bristel, his eyes would follow Madge. He couldn’t help but notice the way she’d been worrying her lip through conversations with some folks, quiet as she worked her way through--was that three now?--glasses of wine. Their eyes caught a few minutes later and Gale tipped his head to the hallway, which Madge easily made her way to understanding his request. 

“Hi,” she greeted. 

“Having fun?” he asked. 

Madge cradled her wine glass in her hands and managed a smile before nodding a little. “What’s down here?” she asked, changing the subject.

She turned and trailed down the hallway toward his bedroom and Gale followed after. She paused with her hand on the doorknob to his room, eyebrow in question, and Gale nodded. She pushed her way into his room and hummed thoughtfully which only made Gale’s chest ache with heat. He’d left his blinds open earlier so the setting sun lit his room instead of the overhead and in front of him, Madge was glowing. 

“Are you surprised?” Gale asked.

She browed the various things on top of his dresser--his deodorant, a book, some loose change--and turned back to him with a smile. He was tidy enough that he wasn’t embarrassed. 

“Surprised?” she asked. “By?”

He shrugged. “Dunno. What did you expect?” 

Maybe he was fishing. Just a little. She seemed to know by her puckered smile. He’d had enough wine that it didn’t unnerve him so Gale held her gaze. 

“At least a plant or two,” she returned with a shrug of her own. 

“We’ve already established that I don’t have any,” he said, following her in.

“Yet.”

“Hmm.” Gale wrinkled his nose and Madge wrinkled her nose in response which only served to make him laugh. He waved his hand at her as though shooing away the idea and that made her laugh too. “You’re annoying,” he said, unable to handle the rocket of heat bouncing around his chest, which only made her smile brighter. 

Toward the end of the night, after more drinks and laughter and food, people started heading home. Katniss and Peeta were some of the first to go, and after their hug on entry, Gale simply nodded at Katniss to say goodnight. 

Peeta shook his hand again and offered him a genuine smile. “Thanks for having us,” he said.

“Thanks for the bread.”

Others trailed out too, Madge agreeing to ride home with Delly and Thom whenever they wanted to go. They were the last three there, and when Thom and Delly stepped out to start loading up their car, Madge stayed back to help clean despite Gale’s insistence that it wasn’t necessary. 

Gale passed his phone where he’d placed it in the kitchen and it lit up just in time for him to see a few messages from Thom.

**Thom  
**I’d say you could drive her later but you’ve drank a bit too so we’re ready when she’s ready  
Tonight was fun  
Send her whenever

He slipped his phone into his pocket and hurried after Madge who was collecting wine glasses from a ledge in the living room. “Okay, okay,” he called after her. “Seriously. You should go.” 

Madge frowned at him. “Last ones,” she promised. 

Gale stopped her as she went for the kitchen and collected the glasses from her hands. “_Thank you_,” he insisted. “I can take care of it. You should go home.” She sighed, nodding a little, but neither of them moved. She swayed a little from how many drinks she’d had and Gale reached out to steady her with his free hand on her side. “I’ll come over this weekend.” 

Her eyes darted up to his. “Promise?” 

God, what were they doing? 

“Promise,” he murmured back. His phone buzzed in his pocket, probably another text from Thom. She steaded herself on his hips and Gale let her lean into him. “Let’s go into town. Buy me a plant.” 

Madge pushed away from him with a grin, shaking her head at him. “Don’t flirt with me,” she teased. 

Gale’s chest raged with heat. He wanted to. It’d been a while since he’d really flirted with someone and he was good at it. More importantly he wanted to flirt with Madge. He liked the way these moments with her made him feel, loved watching her cheeks rise with color. 

After setting the wine glasses down in the kitchen he guided her toward the door and thankfully Thom was still waiting in the parking lot. It took Madge a moment to gather her things but eventually she made her way out to the car, waving over her shoulder. Only once she’d climbed into the backseat of the car, Thom and Delly both waving at Gale through the windshield, did he check his phone. 

**Katniss  
**Nice seeing you tonight

Gale slipped his phone back into his pocket and went in to finish cleaning up. A little bit later his phone buzzed again. 

**Thom  
**Are we going to talk about you and Madge? 

He hesitated. For a moment he considered switching over and texting Katniss back but that wasn’t what Gale actually wanted to do. As much as it terrified him, he wanted to talk about Madge.

**Gale  
**I guess we should. 

**Thom  
**If this is anything other than real then you have to stop  
Like had to have stopped yesterday

**Gale  
**Thanks for that

**Thom  
**Just to be clear.

**Gale  
**Well it’s real for me.  
I’ll come over Saturday?

**Thom  
**See you then

The rest of the night, Gale thought of Thom’s texts. He opened them and re-read them and frowned and put his phone away and then re-opened and re-read them again wondering if that was really what his best friend thought of him. 

Once Gale had realized that his feelings with Madge were legitimate feelings it didn’t take him long to come around to it. But maybe his friends would. Maybe all of their friends would. Finnick seemed supportive but that was who Finnick was. Maybe Thom hated it. Maybe Delly would, too. 

Gale started thinking about all of the people who might be unsupportive if Gale was to actually ask Madge out and the list grew longer and longer in his head. Darius probably wouldn’t be into it, and Johanna thought dating at all was pointless. Gale couldn’t even imagine how Peeta would react, or--

He never texted Katniss back.

**Gale  
**It was nice seeing you too, I’m glad you and Mellark could come. 

**Katniss  
**Gale. You can call him Peeta.  
We had a nice time  
Maybe we could get coffee soon?  
Just us?

Of course Gale’s brain went to Madge again, to the coffee they had just last week, to the ache in Gale’s chest that had meant _I want this to mean something more_. 

He didn’t want that with Katniss.

**Gale  
**Coffee could be good.  
Sunday work for you?

He and Katniss made plans for Sunday and then stopped texting, which was fine. Gale’s thoughts kept drifting back to Madge, and seeing Madge on Saturday, and the way her hand felt in his tonight, and the soft look in her eyes as she made him promise to visit. 

He was well and truly fucked.

* * *

In the morning he woke to a text.

**Madge  
**WHY did you let me consume that much wine on a weeknight 

Gale laughed himself awake.

**Gale  
**You let me do that once too, remember?

**Madge  
**i’m going in late and if anyone at work asks it’s because i have a cold

**Gale  
**Hahaha

* * *

Work was busy for Gale that day. Good but long. He hardly had time for his phone and even once he was home the thought of being social on purpose was absolutely draining. He ate leftovers from the dinner party and scrolled through Netflix looking for something new to watch and let himself do nothing. 

He was nearly asleep on the couch when his phone started ringing in his lap. 

Part of him wanted to ignore it but most people didn’t call him unless it was important. “Yeah?” he answered without checking.

It was Thom. “What are you doing right now?”

Gale blinked hard to wake himself up, concerned at the tone of his friend’s voice. “Nothing, why?” 

“Delly and Madge were coming home from trivia and their tire blew,” Thom muttered. “I’m still at the office because of this late fucking meeting. Any chance you could drive out and help them?”

“Sure. Where are they?”

Thom sent him their location and five minutes later Gale was on his way to find Madge and Delly on the side of the road. When he arrived he immediately found them both desperately trying to pull the flat tire from the car which had been propped up.

“Did you take all the bolts off?” Gale called as he climbed out.

When Madge turned around to look at him, he spotted a dark smudge across her cheek she must’ve gotten there on accident. “No, Gale,” she called back, her voice filled with sarcasm. “We were trying to take the tire off _without _taking all of the bolts off first.”

Gale couldn’t fight his grin. Madge stopped tugging the tire and dropped onto the road with a huff before wiping her forehead again. “You’re 80% of the way there,” Gale said as he started for them.

With a smile Delly said, “Thanks for coming.”

“No problem. You have a spare?”

Madge gestured to the trunk. “It’s in there. My arms are weak.” She leaned backwards so she could look up at Gale who’d started inspecting the flat. “I think it’s rusted on,” Madge explained.

Easy enough.

A couple of minutes later, Gale had the flat tire sitting beside the car as he worked on securing the new one in place. Other than wiggling over a few feet to give room some space, Madge had stayed close, sitting on the ground as she watched him work. Delly rambled on about their night at trivia while Gale made affirming noises every once in a while to show that he was listening, but Madge stayed quiet. 

Soon enough the tire was replaced. Gale turned and offered his hand to Madge who accepted it to stand. He pulled her closer than he cared to admit and she let herself be pulled. 

“Let me know when you’re home?” Gale asked. Madge nodded and started for the driver’s side but Gale caught her wrist and tugged her back. “You okay to drive?” he asked. 

“Yeah,” she said. Madge smiled, a muted version of herself. “I’ll let you know.” 

“I can follow you,” Gale told her. He hadn’t let go of her yet and she’d yet to move away. “Make sure you get there alright.”

Her smile warmed, more familiar. “We’ll be okay. It’s fifteen minutes.” 

“How’re you feeling?” Gale asked then. He was wondering in particular about her hangover and if it had made any of this worse. Madge shrugged, not quite an answer. “Let me know when you’re home,” Gale said again as Delly climbed in the other side. Madge nodded again and he squeezed her gently before finally letting go.

His drive back to his own apartment took less than it would take them to get back and for the difference, Gale felt exceptionally antsy. He forced himself to get ready for bed, stripping down to his boxers and brushing his teeth before finally lying down. He’d only just flicked off the light on his bedside table when his phone started ringing. 

“Hey,” Gale answered quietly.

“Thanks for coming tonight,” Madge whispered back. Gale stretched out in bed and tried fighting off his smile despite the fact that no one was there to see it. “Walking us through all of that.”

“You would’ve figured it out.”

“I’m glad I didn’t have to,” Madge admitted. Even softer she added, “Kinda scary when the tire blew.”

“Yeah?” Gale wondered.

“I’m just glad we weren’t on a highway or something.”

Gale’s chest clenched uncomfortably. “Me too,” he murmured. “How’re you feeling?” he tried again, knowing he didn’t get much of an answer earlier.

Madge’s sigh on the other end only made Gale ache a little bit more. “I don’t know. Just tired, I guess.” 

“I can let you sleep. Or--” Gale stopped himself. 

A beat. “Or?” Madge whispered.

“Or I could keep talking,” he whispered back. 

“Yeah.”

“Okay,” Gale said. “Well,” he shook his head to himself, trying to think of something he could say that was distracting but not boring. “Vick’s going to his first pride soon.” 

“Really?”

Gale smiled. “Yeah.” It was easy to talk about his family. “He came out to us last Christmas. I think Ma was a little surprised but I’d kind of been anticipating it. Not in a bad way. And not that Ma was surprised in a bad way either, but Vick’s always been kind of quiet and he just talked _so much_.” Madge’s soft laughter brought Gale a comfort he’d been needing, too. “So that’s soon and he’s going with a friend from school that he insists is just a friend and I don’t want to be the crazy older brother but I’m 90% certain that the guy with hearts in his name in Vick’s phone might be more than a friend.”

Madge laughed again. “Maybe they’re just _close_ friends,” she offered.

“Uh-huh. Close.”

Madge prompted him with a question about Posy and her new interest in birds and Gale’s heart sang at the fact that she remembered. He told her that Posy had been talking about hummingbirds so he ordered a few hummingbird feeders to their place the other night. He was considering going over soon to see if they’d had time to set them up, seeing as Posy hadn’t sent any pictures yet, and it was _so easy _to make sugar water for them to drink. 

Eventually, Madge cut him off with a soft, “Gale.”

“Sleep now?” 

“Yeah. Thank you.” 

“Course,” he murmured. “You can call me whenever you want.” 

“Don’t tempt me.” 

Gale hummed, a smile finding his face in a heartbeat. 

* * *

And then it was Saturday, and Gale was at Thom’s anyway. Thom invited him over early and by 10 the two of them were in the backyard with an old bow and arrow firing at a tiny target. 

“It’s nothing, yet,” Gale told him when Thom finally prompted him about Madge.

“What do you mean yet?”

“I mean nothing’s happened,” he elaborated, though that didn’t feel entirely true. There were looks and calls and words that might’ve meant things. Gale was much better at archery than Thom but talking while he shot kind of evened the playing field. It also gave him a nice distraction. “She’s… well.” Gale lowered the bow and turned to look at Thom, tired. “You know.” 

“No,” Thom said evenly. “I don’t know.” 

Gale fiddled with the bow, feeling unsure. “Do you think it’s a bad idea?” he asked. 

Thom shrugged. “Do you like her? Like, genuinely?” 

In some ways it was frustrating that Thom even had to ask. “Of course I do.” 

“Then no, Gale. It’s only a bad idea if you’re fucking around.” Gale hesitated before returning his attention to the bow, not sure what else to say. “You’re my best friend,” Thom said before Gale could even aim. “I want you to be happy. If this is serious, then it’s serious, you know? She’s family now. She literally lives in my house.”

Gale exhaled and lowered the bow. “I know.” They stood there in silence for a bit, Gale’s defenses beginning to build. “But personally,” Gale wondered. “Do you like it?”

“You and Madge?” Thom asked. He smiled, slow, and it settled something in Gale that he hadn’t even realized was beginning to fray. “Yeah, man. I really like it. I’ve always really liked it.”

Gale frowned. “Always? How long is always?” 

Thom shrugged. “Couple of months at least.”

“Dude.”

Thom’s smile bloomed into a grin. “Dude,” Thom echoed. 

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

Thom snorted. “I kind of did. But you try telling Gale Hawthorne something he doesn’t want to hear before he’s ready. Besides, you needed to figure that shit out on your own.” Still, Thom was grinning like this was exciting to him, and somehow it was calming while still doing nothing to stifle Gale’s nerves about the whole thing. “I think it’s great, Gale.” 

Gale couldn’t shake his hesitation. He could remember Thom winking at him a few times, nudging him closer to Madge, but it was still harder for him to look at himself and Madge through Thom’s eyes. “Really?”

Thom tugged the bow out of Gale’s hand and set himself up to aim. “Really,” Thom said. He didn’t put much thought into his position but Gale wasn’t feeling too critical. “She chills you out, dude.”

Gale scoffed. “What do you mean?”

“Madge is like xanax to you.” Thom hit the target that time but nowhere near the bullseye. He turned back to Gale with a grin, clearly not understanding the way being around Madge did anything to _chill him out_. “You have Loud Feelings and then Madge is there and they turn into Soft Feelings.”

Gale frowned as he took the bow back from his friend. “That makes no sense. You’re annoying.”

“_You’re_ annoying,” Thom tossed back, still grinning. Gale aimed toward the target and it landed much closer to the bullseye than Thom’s did. 

“I like being around her,” he explained quietly, not looking toward Thom. “It’s easy and comfortable. I don’t find myself thinking about who I am or what I’m doing, I’m just being me. You know?” 

“Mm-hm.”

Gale finally looked back to his friend and found Thom with a more gentle smile than before, one that meant he really did understand. Which meant there was no better time for honesty. 

“I’m worried,” Gale told him.

Thom’s smile flickered. “About?”

Gale passed the bow back. “Katniss,” he whispered. 

Thom’s face hardened. “Gale--”

“Not like that,” he rushed before Thom could let his imagination run away from him. “I feel really over her now. I mean I think about her in some vague sense but not…” he trailed off, gesturing around the two of them. “I don’t have feelings for her anymore.”

“Then why are you worried?”

“Because they’re friends too,” Gale told him. “And…” the real truth. “I started feeling things for Madge before I was completely over Katniss. So…” 

“Oh,” Thom nodded. “I see.”

Gale nodded too. “Yeah.” Not that he was worried that his feelings for Madge weren’t legitimate, necessarily, but he knew that they might very well be tangled up with other things. “I want to do this right, Thom,” he said gently. “She deserves that.” 

He silently passed the bow back over to his friend, who was smiling. Thom shrugged a little and said, “I really think the fact that you’re worried says enough.” 

* * *

Later that morning after shooting, Thom and Gale hung around the kitchen while drinking coffee. It was still mid-morning when Madge and Delly trudged down the stairs, both of them still swaddled in pajamas and looking sleepy. Gale drank from his mug to try and hide his smile as he watched them putter around.

“Morning,” Madge greeted with a yawn, to which Gale nodded in response. “You make enough for us?” she asked Thom as she started for the coffee pot.

“No I only made enough for me and Gale,” Thom said as he rolled his eyes.

Madge rolled her eyes back but Delly was smiling as she pulled out mugs for the two of them. With Gale nearest the fridge he reached in, grabbing the creamer that he knew Madge would want before passing it over to her. 

“You all have any plans for the day?” he asked the ladies.

Delly launched into a whole speech about how she needed to go grocery shopping and how she’s been waiting all week to get some good produce to which Madge suggested the farmer’s market.

“We could all go,” Thom added, knowing Gale wouldn’t be able to turn them down. 

An hour later, they were on their way. 

They all rode in Thom’s car to be environmentally friendly, Gale in the front because of his long legs, eyes always darting into the mirror to catch sight of Madge in the back, and before they’d even fully parked Madge was hauling him away to one of the plant stands. 

“I don’t need one,” Gale told her, but Madge was ignoring him as she browsed. 

He couldn’t remember the last time he went to a farmer’s market. The weather seemed to be in their favor, a cooler morning than they’d had as of late. Gale couldn’t help but feel a little out of his element. He blamed it on the fact that the two of them spent a lot of time in his spaces--places he felt comfortable. She literally went to his childhood home and met his family. This felt like more of a Madge space than anything. 

“I really like bromeliads,” Madge was telling him as they stopped in front of a display. She gestured to the plants in front of them before turning to Gale. “They do great in shade and they’re really easy to take care of,” she explained. “They have this stalk in the middle, see?”

“Mm-hm…”

“You just have to make sure it’s filled with fresh water every week. And maybe water the base like, once every couple of weeks.” She turned to him, very seriously. “They’re super low maintenance. Am I selling you on this plant yet?”

Gale thought about it. “Maybe.”

“What’s your favorite color?” she asked.

Gale thought some more. “Orange,” he decided.

Madge turned back to the bromeliads and scanned until she found one. Madge plucked it up and walked over to him. Many of the long leaves of the plant were a rich green, but toward the center was a colorful mix or orange and reds. 

“This one,” she said.

“Okay.”

Her face lit up. “Okay?” she asked. 

Gale took the plant from her with a nod, pulling it closer so he could study it. “Sure. You win.” Madge’s smile stretched even wider and Gale tried to remain as neutral as he could, though he was sure the corners of his own mouth were tugging upward as well. “It’s nice,” he told her.

“We’ll have to re-pot it,” she explained, starting down the twisted aisle of the area they were in. She started talking about soil and sunlight and all the other necessary things for raising a plant while Gale followed along, listening as best he could but also just enjoying letting her ramble about something she clearly cared so much about. 

They’d nearly made it to the check-out when Gale asked, “What about something for my living room?”

Madge turned back to him with her eyebrows high on her forehead. “What about it?” she pushed back. 

“I just think that space in the corner would do well with some greenery.” 

“Are you going to remember to water it?”

He rolled his eyes. “No, Madge, I’m going to buy this plant and then let it die slowly.”

“Freak.”

He laughed and Madge grinned and she turned back to the rows of plants that they’d passed with a new mission on her mind. Gale followed after her, still carrying the bromeliad he was planning to purchase, when Madge found him a literal tree.

“Madge. I can’t put this tree in my apartment.”

“You can’t?” she challenged. “Or won’t?” 

“What about a succulent?” he asked, changing the subject away from the tree despite her curiously arched eyebrow. “They need little tending, right? And that window is in direct sun so it can get hot.” 

Madge started rambling about the succulents she had on her desk at work as she led him down more twisted aisles to the succulent section. He couldn’t help but notice that the tent had seemed to empty pretty quickly all of a sudden, and glancing over his shoulder, he found it even more clear.

“Madge,” he called her name gently, turning in confusion. 

She turned too, away from the succulent she’d scooped up. “Yeah?”

Something felt wrong but he didn’t want her to worry. “Call Delly and see where they are,” he said, “I’ll pay.” She started to frown, passing over the succulent Gale hadn’t necessarily agreed to but thought looked nice, a decently sized aloe vera plant, when both of their phones rang out with high shrieks.

Madge hurried to dig hers out and Gale caught sight of the notification that read _SEVERE THUNDERSTORM ALERT_. Madge tapped through some screens while Gale turned and started for the cash register. He looked over to watch her pull up the radar, and then her frown deepened. 

“It’s still a while away,” she told him from where she’d positioned herself by his side. Gale watched the dark images on the radar move and tried not to frown himself. Summer storms in this area could happen quickly, feel like they pretty much came out of nowhere. They could also be kind of intense. Hence the alert. “We have time.”

“Call Delly,” Gale said again.

Her mouth quirked to the side as she dialed the number and Gale quickly paid for the two plants that they’d picked out. After getting their PAID stickers Madge took one back from him as they walked, the two of them both carrying a plant while Madge chatted with Delly on the phone about finding them in the middle. She and Thom had gone to get produce so Madge and Gale took the path toward that section of the market.

Thom grinned like an asshole when he spotted the plants but Gale refused to engage. Since the alert he felt a little bit like his senses had gone into overdrive, hyper aware of every gust of wind and incredibly mindful of the rapidly darkening sky. Madge, despite her announcement of having time, kept checking her phone with her eyebrows furrowing more and more. 

Thom and Delly’s easy smiles quickly faded when they realized the storm was approaching much faster than they originally thought. They were able to purchase some produce before the women in charge of the tents started shooing people away, announcing that they’d be closing soon. 

The four of them hurried to Thom’s car and were able to get settled inside before the first heavy raindrops fell upon them. They splattered across the windshield like someone was flicking a paintbrush clean making the rain sound louder than it must’ve really been. The sky had darkened more than a few shades now and the wind was already beginning to pick up. In the rearview, Gale watched Madge gnaw nervously on her bottom lip. 

She didn’t like storms, Gale remembered. 

“Well damn,” Thom said as he started the engine. “Didn’t anyone bother to check the weather?”

Madge scowled at him. “Can we just go home?” she asked. An edge had caught in her voice. Then a touch softer, “Please?” 

Gale wanted to turn in his seat completely, face her head on and tell her that it would be okay. 

“Looks like we’d be driving into it,” Delly said as she studied her phone. She leaned up over the seat to show Thom and Gale who both frowned. “We could wait?”

“Bristel’s place isn’t too far from here,” Thom said as he shifted the car into drive. “Someone give her a call to see if she’s home.” 

Bristel was home, and the four of them raced against the storm to try and get to her apartment further in the city before the brute of it hit. Despite the early joy of the morning the car was pretty quiet as they drove. Upon arrival to her place they all sprinted as the onslaught of rain had arrived and seemed unrelenting.

Behind them thunder rumbled and Gale’s hand found the small of Madge’s back as he guided her onward, out of the storm. 

Up three flights of stairs and down a long rickety hallway they found Bristel waiting for them in her apartment. She had towels ready and her windows already yanked open so the cool breeze that came with the storm was flooding the air. 

On the top floor of her building the rain sounded louder, but that also might’ve been because it had picked up in the meantime too. Lightning danced around the sky, strike after strike after strike, followed immediately by pounding thunder that felt like the foundation was unsettled. 

“It’s a good thing I was home when you called,” Bristel said with a grin. 

Gale had only been to Bristel’s apartment a few times. She worked weird hours that made it difficult to connect with her and her place was all the way on the edge of the city. The apartment was in an older building but inside her own unit she’d decorated to make the space feel cozy--an assortment of candles here, some well placed art there. Even with the sudden storm raging outside Gale felt much better being grounded somewhere. 

“We would’ve had to drive through this,” Delly told her as she hugged Bristel in greeting. “Thank you so much!”

“I’ll put on some coffee,” she offered after hugging everyone else.

Madge was still quiet. She’d wound her arms around herself and kept her eyes toward the windows, wincing whenever lightning struck or the thunder was just a little too loud. Gale drifted to her side while Delly and Thom followed Bristel to the kitchen, his hand finding the small of Madge’s back. 

“We’re okay here,” he told her gently. She nodded but still wouldn’t look at him. “Remember when we said we needed to watch a storm together?” he tried to tease.

Her mouth quirked upwards, just a little. “Yeah.” 

Gale heard the coffee pot roar to life in the kitchen. “Let’s go on the balcony,” he said.

Madge scoffed. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, Madge, seriously.” He started guiding her toward the door but her feet remained as firmly planted as her frown. “There’s a roof,” he told her as he gave up, going toward the door himself. “It’ll be okay.”

He left the sliding door cracked so she could follow him if she wanted, but she didn’t right away. 

Gale was only out on the balcony for a few minutes when the door slid open and he turned to find Madge joining him. Her mouth quirked upwards in a nervous smile and he smiled back, hoping it was warm enough to settle something in her the way her smiles did with him. 

“Not so bad, eh?”

“It’s fine.” 

“You okay?” he asked. She shrugged, winding her arms around herself before gazing out of the balcony. She settled beside him on the balcony, eyebrows furrowed as she observed the weather. “It’ll pass soon.”

“Yeah,” she answered softly. Gale stood up straight and reached out with one arm, draping it over Madge’s shoulder so he could pull her close. Madge sighed as she turned into him, winding her own arms around his middle and burying her face in his side. “Mmf,” she murmured.

Gale patted her back gently. “Yeah, I know.” Lightning struck and thunder rattled the tiny apartment building and Madge kept her eyes closed as she stayed nestled against him. Gale didn’t mind. “I hated storms when I was a kid,” he told her. He’d started rubbing small, slow circles on her back. “But my dad loved them. And we had this little overhang on the front porch.”

“I remember.”

Of course she did.

“He would always sit out there,” Gale carried on. “Pull out enough chairs for the three of us. It was just me, then, for a while. And there was something about being out there with him that always made me feel safe.” 

Gale could remember it now, the rumbling of their home, the lightning in the sky. He was small and there was hesitation in his feet that kept him lingering in the doorway, peering out as though he didn’t trust that the storm couldn’t reach them. He didn’t have siblings yet--no reason to be brave other than to impress his parents. 

But storms were loud and they made him afraid. So when Gale’s father opened his arms for him and let Gale sit on his lap, it felt more like the sky was putting on a performance for them. 

Now, Gale threaded his fingers through Madge’s hair easily with their angle and she sighed, melting into him like she’d forgotten she was afraid. 

“I can keep you safe,” Gale told her. 

“I know,” she whispered. Madge pulled back just a touch but leaned into his hand, Gale fanning out his fingers to better cradle her. She reached up and rested her hand on his wrist in a way that kept him close. “Thank you.” Before he could ask what for she added, “You don’t really talk about your dad.” 

Thunder rumbled around them and Gale decided on a truth. “I want to talk about everything with you.” 

Madge’s lips parted and a soft shade of pink flooded her cheeks and Gale wanted to kiss her more than he’d ever wanted to kiss her before. 

The moment he thought it he considered doing it, leaning in and closing the short distance between them. But at almost the exact same time the sliding glass door was tugged open, Bristel and Delly both walking out to join them. Madge pressed herself back into Gale’s side and he pulled her closer, arm still over her shoulder while she wound her own behind his back as they readjusted

“Hi hi,” Bristel greeted. Lightning struck again, closer this time, which made Madge jump. “Coffee should be ready soon. I love a good storm, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Gale agreed. Still, he rubbed small circles with his thumb on Madge’s shoulder. “Thanks for letting us bombard you.” Bristel gravitated to Gale’s open side and Delly to Madge’s. “Reminds me of Capitol.”

Bristel laughed, maybe remembering the stormy days everyone would crowd into someone’s dormitory for movies or video games instead of making the trek to classes, and as she did Thom joined them on the balcony too. 

The five of them chatted about their time at Capitol University while the storm continued showing off. Madge eventually returned from where she’d tucked herself away in Gale’s side, laughing and adding memories to the conversation as well. When the coffee was finished they all headed back inside, leaving the screen door of the balcony open so the cool air could continue to flow through the apartment. 

He should tell her.

Madge sat on the couch squished between Delly and Bristel drinking her over-creamed coffee and Gale knew that he should tell her how he was feeling. Every time they were together he felt it building up inside of him, greater than before. Thom liked it, so did Finnick. They were both friends with Madge too--so their approval meant something.

He just didn’t know how.

When the worst of the storm had finally passed, Gale found himself out on the balcony again. The time right after a storm could be just as life-giving as the time during. The air smelled fresh and felt full of change, sending goosebumps all along Gale’s arms with a small breeze. 

Thunder still rumbled in the distance and the sky was still dark but the storm no longer hung directly over them. It wasn’t long before the door opened and Bristel slid out to join him. 

“Jo just texted,” she told him as she closed the door behind her. Madge Thom and Delly all spread out on the couch inside, seen just through the door. “She’s having a party tonight, you wanna go?”

“Might as well.” Gale shifted on the balcony to make a spot for her which Bristel easily filled. They hadn’t had a moment alone just the two of them since they’d all arrived at her apartment . “She say why?”

“Just for fun, I think.” Gale nodded slowly. “Thom said you and Madge aren’t together yet,” Bristel mentioned. Gale couldn’t stop the smile that cracked open his face at the word _yet_. “What are you waiting for?”

Gale shook his head, glancing over his shoulder even though he knew the rest of their friends were still on the couch inside. “I don’t know,” Gale admitted. “It’s not right, yet.” A chance for himself to linger in the almost, too. _Yet_. 

“What do you mean? Seems right to me.” 

But it wasn’t. Which is why he still couldn’t tell her. 

“I don’t know,” Gale said again. He would know when the time presented itself, he was sure. There was something still inside of him--despite his friends support, despite the clarity of his own feelings--it made him want to wait. 

* * *

The afternoon bled into the evening and Gale found that he didn’t mind that he was still with his friends. He was sure he would be exhausted later, but at least he had his own apartment to retreat to once that set in.

The five of them went to grab food before Johanna’s, the women climbing into Bristel’s car while Gale stuck with Thom for the drive into the city.

“So you have two plants now,” Thom noted.

“Don’t start with me.” 

Thom’s only response was to grin. 

They decided on Mexican and the place they chose was busy, full of people who’d probably decided to go out after the storm had passed just like they did. Crowded into a booth that could fit all of them, Gale found himself beside Madge yet again. She seemed muted, maybe still affected by the weather, but every now and again he would elbow her gently and she would smile and Gale knew that things were okay. 

Instead of going home after dinner to kill time they just ordered extra drinks (except those driving) before piling back into the cars to head for the party. 

The five of them were the first ones to Johanna’s but she didn’t seem to mind. She was already blasting music and answered the door with a blunt between her lips and a grin on her face. Johanna lived in a house that she shared with three other people but all of them were away for the weekend, hence her desire to go a little crazy.

Darius was next to arrive only a few minutes later and he brought along his band, and they brought more people with them, and soon after Gale and his group had arrived there was already a party in full swing. 

Gale started in the kitchen getting punch and ended up in the living room playing Kings with Finnick and then later, when the sun had finally set, he found himself on the back porch to find a moment of quiet. 

Everyone was there, it seemed. He’d run into Glimmer by the bathroom and Cressida in the basement rolling joints and even Castor and Pollux were mixing drinks by the fridge. He’d lost Madge at some point, only to catch flashes of her golden hair here and there across the room.

“Found you,” Gale heard, and turned to see Madge joining him out on the back porch with a soft smile. He smiled back, warmed immediately by her presence. “I always forget how crazy Johanna parties get,” Madge said as she joined him.

“Me too,” Gale admitted. Madge was wearing a flannel overshirt and she reached into the front pocket of it, pulling out a joint. “Is that for me?” Gale asked, his smile stretching into a grin.

“For us,” Madge corrected.

“Even better.” 

Madge dug out a lighter and offered them both to Gale to get it lit, which he did so easily. Inside the music was still blasting and people were cheering and chatting but between the closed door, it felt like he and Madge had their own space. 

Gale didn’t mind edibles but he did prefer smoking when it came to pot. He’d only had a little bit to drink so he wasn’t too worried about combining the two, and the second he had exhaled his first hit, Gale felt a sense of peace. He passed it back to Madge now that it was lit and she took a hit of her own. Gale wasn’t sure if he’d ever seen her smoke before. Maybe in passing, like at the beach or at another party, but he’d never really watched. 

When she passed it back her eyes narrowed suspiciously at him, but the corners of her mouth tugged upwards. “What?” she asked.

“What?” Gale pushed back.

“Staring.”

He laughed, accepting as she passed it back. “I just realized I didn’t know that you smoked.”

She shrugged, her smile lingering. “Special occasions.”

“Is today a special occasion?” he asked after taking his hit. 

Madge shrugged again before accepting it. “You bought a plant, does that count?” Gale couldn’t stop his laughter even if he wanted to, and he seriously didn’t want to. It felt like something had come loose inside of him, opening up his lungs so every breath he took expanded them.

“Two, even. And bromeliads are fucking expensive.”

Madge’s returning laughter felt like a win in and of itself. “Thanks for earlier,” Madge added after a little bit. “With the storm.”

“I know you don’t like them.”

“At least we got to watch together.” After saying that she smiled in a sort of private way, one that made Gale’s chest rush with a fire that he wanted to keep stoking. “Maybe one day they won’t be so scary to me.”

“I hope not,” Gale agreed.

They passed the joint back and forth taking quick hits, the smoke twisting around them as though it wanted to provide further privacy. The conversation tapered off and Gale found that he didn’t mind. Quiet with Madge still felt full of something that couldn’t be named, something that needed to be treasured. 

As he watched her exhale, the smoke wispy between her lips, he couldn’t help but think that they never would’ve gotten here if things with Katniss hadn’t gone to hell. Friendship or otherwise. What a shame it would’ve been, never knowing Madge for who she really is. Oddly enough he found an ounce of gratitude for the ache Katniss caused--it led him to much more than he’d realized.

Gale had been isolated, struggling to communicate with his friends about anything let alone his feelings. He made little attempts to connect with the people that he cared about, even when things were good with Katniss. 

He never pushed himself. He was comfortable, but in a way that limited him.

Now he was adopting plants and looking more seriously into therapy and he had this small group of friends that he loved so desperately, so dearly, and they loved him too, Gale knew. He felt like the most authentic version of himself in a long time.

He couldn’t say that was all due to Katniss, clearly. He’d been the one to make the choices that drove him toward an open heart in the first place, even if she’d been the trigger to send him searching. He couldn’t and wouldn’t thank her for the progress that he’d made on his own without her.

Katniss didn’t deserve to find peace in his victories. They weren’t for her. 

With another pass of the joint Madge quietly asked, “What’re you thinking about?”

Gale hesitated. Sometimes it felt like he was always thinking about Katniss, which wasn’t true. But this time he was. Something about that made it harder to tell Madge where his thoughts were focused, especially because of their day, especially because of the way things had blossomed between them. 

“Nothing,” he answered. 

“Okay.”

They returned to silence. Sitting in quiet with Madge had felt more and more comfortable as their friendship grew stronger but this moment still felt tense and he wasn’t sure if that was because of his own spiral of thoughts or not. 

Not sure if he was reading into it or not Gale decided to ask, “What are you thinking about?” Madge shrugged. “That’s not an answer,” Gale pointed out.

“Neither is nothing.” 

Gale hesitated again. Not because he didn’t want to be open with Madge, he did. He’d been so much better at communicating in so many ways over the past few months. But there was still a piece of him that feared any moment he shared a piece of himself with Madge that wasn’t easily digestible that he’d be shoved to the side again as an inconvenience. 

But Gale knew that Madge cared about him. And more than that, he wanted to be honest with her. “I was thinking about Katniss,” he eventually said.

Madge took a long drag from the joint. “What about Katniss?” she wondered. 

“That we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for what she did.” 

Madge looked up at him slowly, her eyes bright and wide. “Here,” she echoed.

“You know,” Gale said. She passed the joint over to him and he added, “Friends.” 

Madge looked away quickly then, out across the backyard. The area they were in didn’t afford much for a view and there weren’t any fireflies or lights nearby, just a dark stretch of nothing. “Yeah,” Madge murmured. 

Gale took a long drag himself. “We’re getting coffee tomorrow.”

Madge’s eyebrows furrowed immediately and she still wouldn’t look at him. “Oh.” 

“Her idea,” Gale said. He took another hit before passing it back, which Madge accepted. “How are you supposed to have someone in your life that you care so much about but also want nothing to do with?” he muttered.

Madge was quiet for a long time before she answered, “I guess you have to decide which is more important.” 

That was true. Even more true that it didn’t need to be decided right now. 

“I’ll figure it out,” Gale settled with. It was meant to be a rhetorical question. He knew it would never be easy or straightforward and he’d already wasted so much of his and Madge’s time talking about Katniss that he wanted to be done for the night. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Sure it does,” Madge said quietly. “You still care about her.”

“I can care about her while still acknowledging that we’re not right for each other,” Gale shot back, careful not to let frustration creep into his voice. “She’s like family, but family can still fuck you over, you know?” He shook his head. “And it’s not the same,” he said to Madge, needing that to be clear. “How I care about her.” 

“Sure,” she murmured.

The tension hadn’t faded between them yet. He nudged her with his elbow and she passed the joint back his way even though he wasn’t aiming for the weed. “What about you?” he asked, accepting it anyway. “Thinking about.” 

Madge let out a long sigh before she said, “Finnick.” Finally Madge looked up at him, but her eyes seemed distant. “He wants to propose.”

Marriage. Fuck. Dating was hard enough--Gale couldn’t even conceptualize the thought of marrying someone. 

(Yet.)

But Finnick and Annie had been together for years now, it made sense that Finnick’s mind was somewhere other than his own. Also--why hadn’t Finnick said anything to him? Was it a secret? Madge wouldn’t have told him if it was a secret. And also, again, Finnick and Annie been together for years so anyone could’ve assumed this was the next logical step. 

“Do you think he will?”

Madge nodded. “Soon, yeah.” 

“Damn.” Madge kept nodding, slowly, like she was still thinking. “They’re good together.” 

“They are,” Madge agreed softly.

Gale turned then so he could really look at her. “Madge,” he started, but instead of looking at him she flicked the joint with a sigh--finding it out. 

“I’m gonna get some water,” she told him. Madge slipped back inside before he could think to stop her. 

Gale lingered, watching her go, feeling like something had just happened even though he couldn’t be sure what it was. He waited until she was inside, took a few more deep breaths of the night summer air, and then decided to follow after her. 

Entering the party again was like being hit with a wall of sound, especially after the serenity of the porch. The pot made him feel oddly alert but in strange ways, like his eyes couldn’t settle but he knew that they were just searching for someone in particular. The music drummed on and Gale turned and turned and there she was, Madge again, against the wall with Delly now, the two of them in a quiet but intense conversation. Gale didn’t expect to hear what they were talking about but at the last moment before he looked away, he caught Madge’s mouth form the word _Katniss_.

Delly responded right away and Madge popped her shoulders into a shrug. She took a drink from a plastic cup that she hadn’t had on the porch, something she must’ve grabbed after getting back inside, and Gale suddenly felt off-balance in the worst kind of way. He turned to catch himself against the wall and found Thom there instead, a curious eyebrow arched as he helped steady Gale. 

“Hey,” Thom greeted. “When do you wanna go?” 

Gale forced his eyes back to Madge and Delly and found them laughing about something now, Madge’s smile bright, nowhere near the look she’d just had on her face. 

“Whenever you want,” Gale murmured. Thom’s eyebrows furrowed for a moment and Gale knew instinctively that his friend had been able to see whatever Gale had been trying to hide from him. “Porch?” he wondered.

Thom nodded and the two of them set out for it. They fell on opposite sides than he and Madge had been standing earlier. “What’s up?” Thom asked as he pulled the door shut.

Gale didn’t know where to start. It was crazy that dread could creep in so quickly and take hold of his heart. Just moments before he couldn’t imagine the stomach ache that came with uncertainty and yet still here it was, tight and awful.

“How is it that I can feel so broken, and still so… _happy _at the same time?” Gale shook his head, confused at the contentedness of his feelings and the rush of fear that had just as quickly overwhelmed him. 

Earlier he’d been reflecting on all of the progress that he’d made, and that was legitimate. Every step forward was one to be proud of, one that he legitimately enjoyed. But at the same time, he did still feel broken. Pieces of him, anyway. 

“It’s a kind of grieving process,” Thom offered gently, knowing what he meant. “You go through stages. Denial, anger, acceptance. All of it’s fine. All of the feelings are allowed to exist, even at the same time.” 

Gale supposed there was a lot that he was grieving. There was the intimate connection he had with Katniss--gone. Never to be the same. The relationship he had with her before all of this would never return. That alone had so many different facets he needed to mourn.

But he was also grieving pieces of himself that he felt he’d lost in all of it.

Gale’s trust had been taken advantage of. While arguing that his feelings still held weight, he had also started believing maybe they mattered less. With his broken heart came broken confidence, confusion where there used to be clarity. He’d started second guessing himself more than ever before. 

Especially here, now. In the dark on the porch. 

“Sometimes I feel like she knocked the wind out of me and left me gasping,” Gale told his friend. Flat on his back, sprawled in the woods with his arms outstretched. “Like I can’t catch my breath.” 

Thom shook his head slowly. “That’s awful, Gale.” 

“What if she sees that?” he asked quietly. “Madge.” 

Thom shrugged. “I’m sure she’s gotten the wind knocked out of her before too. Listen--if Madge was going to run the other way, she would’ve done it by now.” He reached up, resting his hand on Gale’s shoulder and squeezing once. “It’s been a long day,” he reminded him. “And it’s dark now. But remember it’s always easier--”

“When the sun’s up,” Gale cut him off. “I know. I remember.” 

Like today at the Farmer’s Market, or on Bristel’s balcony with Madge tucked into his side, or even earlier this evening, when they shared a joint. 

Easy moments.

Breathe.

* * *

By the time they got back to Thom’s that night, Gale was still in his head. Madge and Delly in the backseat were giggly, Madge sufficiently cross-faded while Delly had apparently downed some tequila while Gale and Thom had stepped out to the porch. The two women hopped out almost immediately upon arriving home, both of them calling out their goodnight to Gale before heading inside. 

It wasn’t the goodbye he’d wanted, really, but it would be fine. Gale sighed, unbuckling his seatbelt with a sigh. 

“I’m getting coffee with Katniss tomorrow,” he told Thom.

Thom paused, his hand hovering over his own seatbelt to be unbuckled. “...Oh?” 

“Is this ever going to end?” Gale asked. 

“Yeah, Gale. It will.” 

He exhaled deeply and nodded his head. “Thanks.” 

“Do you want me to talk to Madge?” he wondered.

“_Fuck_ no.”

Thom smirked. “Delly, then?”

“Goodnight,” Gale said firmly as he climbed out of the car. He promised to let Thom know when he got home and then slowly transferred his plants over to his truck before making the drive. 

Feelings were frustrating. 

Despite it being late and not really sure what happened with Madge toward the end of the night, right after setting up both of his plants he took two pictures to send to her. He didn’t expect a response really and started going about his night, but when Gale checked his phone later she’d responded with about a dozen emojis - half hearts and half plants. 

**Gale  
**If I kill them will you promise not to hate me?

**Madge  
**you won’t kill them!  
they’re both easy to care for  
and you are a smart guy 

**Gale  
**That isn’t a no.

**Madge  
**true  
g’night!! 

* * *

Climbing out of bed to get to the coffee shop the next morning was a struggle. Gale didn’t want to go for a dozen reasons but he knew it would end up being for the best.

Katniss was waiting for him when he arrived, a coffee already ordered for him in a to-go cup so they could walk and talk. He smiled at her appreciatively but when she leaned in to hug him in greeting Gale fumbled and it ended up being awkward. 

There was a park nearby that they both liked so they started that way, careful not to bump elbows as they walked, Gale’s freehand shoved into his back pocket as to not let it anywhere near hers for whatever reason. 

“You didn’t go to Jo’s party last night,” Gale noted.

Katniss shrugged. “We had tickets to a movie already,” she told him. 

We, always we.

“Fun.”

It was more of a struggle to get through coffee than Gale thought it would be, but also easy in the way that familiar things could be. They struggled with moments of silence that Gale knew they could both feel the tension, but other times they chatted like nothing had changed.

It was exhausting in a way he didn’t want to deal with on a Sunday.

“You know,” Katniss prompted eventually, “I never meant to hurt you.” She said it like if she voiced it enough times it would heal the damage that had already been caused.

Gale shook his head and whispered back, “But you did.” 

Just because Gale had chosen weeks of suffering in silence before finally reaching out until he was in a more stable place didn’t mean he hadn’t ached. He could still tap into it now, easily. He cared for her so deeply, in so many ways, and she’d disregarded all of them.

Lovers, friends. None of it had mattered to her the way it mattered to him until it was too late. 

“I wish I could do it all over again,” Katniss told him. 

He shook his head again, still looking down. “But you can’t,” Gale urged. He didn’t know how many times they would have to have this conversation, but he hoped it would end soon. “There’s just…” he trailed off, not wanting to say it but knowing he had to. “There’s just going to be a wall here, Katniss. For a long time.” _Maybe forever, _he wouldn’t say, even if he felt it. “It isn’t ever going to feel the same. It just won’t.”

The part of them that had been friends, the parts of them that worked, Gale would always want that in his life. But it would have to come slowly. Even after he brought another woman into his life, even after he fell for someone and cared for someone new. There was hurt here that wouldn’t go away, a betrayal of trust that Gale could never learn to make sense of. He couldn’t rationalize giving the good parts of himself to Katniss after everything she’d put him through.

Things had changed. They would have to see what that entailed as their lives progressed.

When they reached the end of their drinks, the two of them sitting side by side on a bench in mostly non-awkward silence, Gale was ready to get home. Instead Katniss said, “I still have some of your things.”

Gale felt his face react before he could help it--eyebrows pulling together in confusion. “What do you mean?” 

Katniss kept her eyes on her cup and shrugged. “Like, I have a box of your things I need to give you.” She looked up then. “Blankets, old jackets.” Things she’d accumulated that at the time might’ve meant something, or meant nothing, but either way had value to them now that she couldn’t bear the weight of. “Stuff like that.”

“Do you have it in your car?”

She didn’t, so Gale agreed to follow her back to her place so he could get it. It would feel awful in a new way, Gale was sure, but he needed to be done with this side of things with her. He hadn’t been to her apartment in months now and when they opened the door to find it pretty much exactly the same, Gale couldn’t help the dull ache that formed in his stomach. 

“I’m here,” a tiny voice came from the kitchen. “Don’t freak out!”

“Prim?” Katniss called back. Prim stuck her head out of the kitchen area with a grin and the tension Gale had been holding inside of him dissolved immediately. “What are you doing here?” Katniss asked as she and Gale kicked off their shoes. 

“That bake sale is soon,” she said, to which Katniss made a face of understanding. “You didn’t tell me Gale was coming over!”

“Hi Prim,” Gale said easily.

“How would I have known to tell you if I didn’t know you would be here?” Katniss grumbled. 

Prim flew out of the kitchen at the speed of a small bird and flung herself at Gale, surpassing her sister completely, arms winding around his waist for the tightest hug Gale had ever received from her. Gale hugged her back as his lungs flooded with relief. Prim was his family and he’d missed her. In ways, it felt like her hug was saying _I never thought I’d see you again_. Gale could admit that he’d had that fear himself. 

He hadn’t been ready to see Katniss yet when Prim had been staying with her. Since then they found her a sublet with some quiet roommates near her school.

“It’s nice to see you,” Gale said as they pulled back from one another. “What bake sale?”

“For my sorority,” she answered. “Actually, uh…” she pulled back, eyes darting from Katniss to Gale nervously before adding, “I invited Peeta over to help decorate cookies.”

Of course.

* * *

Gale didn’t flee like he imagined Katniss and Prim probably expected him to. He slowly moved the box of his things that Katniss had acquired over to his truck before returning to the apartment and steeling himself for Peeta’s eventual arrival. 

He found himself checking his phone more frequently than not, mostly waiting for a text from Madge than anything else, and was frustrated with himself that he wouldn’t just send one to her to start. He opened her text thread twice before finally closing out of his messages completely. 

“You seem distracted,” Prim said. 

They’d moved into the kitchen area so they could help Prim with her baking. When Gale looked up to her, Prim’s eyes were gentle but curious, and Gale couldn’t help but smile. “Maybe I am,” he told her. 

“What are you thinking about?” she asked.

Katniss was helping mix the dry parts of the dough and she looked up to wait for Gale’s answer too. Gale shifted his eyes between the two of them, not sure what he wanted to say. The easiest path would be to say nothing.

But he was thinking of Madge. And part of the whole Madge Thing was that Katniss was, frustratingly, still part of that. Madge had ties to both of them, to Katniss _first_, and truthfully Gale wasn’t sure where the two of them currently stood friendship-wise. Still, Katniss had kept secrets from Gale that led to pain. Gale at least wanted to be honest. He also wasn’t sure how to do that without it sounding like he was gloating, or asking for permission, or trying to be vindictive, as none of that were true.

He took a slow breath before popping his shoulders into a shrug. “It’s complicated,” he settled.

Katniss both scoffed and snorted at once. “What’s complicated?” Katniss asked. 

“Prim asked what I was thinking about,” Gale elaborated. “Thoughts are complicated.” Prim smirked while Katniss scoffed again. “Fine, what are _you_ thinking about Catnip?”

“How you just don’t want to be honest with me,” she muttered, returning to sifting. 

“I was thinking about Madge,” Gale pushed back at once. Not angrily, but evenly. He had been giving Katniss the truth but she was right, it’d been fractured. Everyone knew it. If she demanded the full truth then he would give it to her. “But admitting that would mean admitting something I’m not sure we’re ready for, so I left it at complicated.”

Katniss turned back to him, her face neutral in a way he couldn’t read. It was scary, in a way, that Gale wasn’t sure what this look said.

“What about Madge?” Katniss asked. 

Prim returned to cracking some eggs and with each one Gale felt the tension ease. “That’s the Madge I know, yeah?”

“My old roommate,” Katniss said, still looking to Gale. “You two probably see each other a lot more now, right?” Gale nodded. “Hard to imagine you two being friends.” 

“Probably harder to imagine me having feelings for her,” Gale said slowly. “But I do. And--we are. Friends, I mean.” 

There was silence, then a poorly timed cracked egg. “Oh,” Katniss said.

“I liked her,” Prim said casually, either intentionally ignoring the strange silence or oblivious to the strain Gale couldn’t be sure. “She was always really nice.”

Gale looked down to his lap, unable to hold Katniss’s gaze another moment. He couldn’t name the feeling inside of him. It wasn’t shame or guilt but there was certainly something heavy and blue that had settled in his ribcage. Maybe it was the feeling of letting go. Maybe it was the grief of not being able to share this moment with someone he cared about like he should--like it was a celebration. Maybe it was both. 

“Does she know?” Katniss eventually asked. “I mean--have you two--” 

“No,” Gale said quickly as he looked back up. “No, and I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t say--”

“Of course I won’t, Gale,” Katniss rushed. Prim kept on like nothing had shifted in the air and moved the bowl of eggs and other wet ingredients to be folded together over to him to do the heavy work. “Well that’s--yeah,” Katniss said, like she’d forced an air of optimism into her voice to make herself sound cheery. “Yeah.”

“Mm-hm.” Gale folded away. “Doesn’t Mellark have some fancy machine that could do this for us?” he grumbled. 

“Oh,” Prim said. “Probably. I should’ve asked!” 

They slowly added in the dry ingredients in a silence that Gale tried his best to ignore. Later as they were cutting out shapes with cookie cutters Katniss added, “I don’t care, you know.”

“Care about what?” Prim asked.

“Madge,” Gale reminded her.

Prim paused a little, looking between the two of them. “Were you allowed to care?” Prim asked her sister seriously. Gale counted that as a win for himself but kept his face smug-free. 

“I’m just saying,” Katniss stressed. “Like, if you were worried, or… I don’t know.”

“No, thank you for saying that,” Gale told her. 

“I mean I know this is--” she gestured between them. “Weird.”

“Mm-hm,” Prim agreed.

“Okay well we’re _trying_,” Katniss said, elbowing her sister. “Chill out.” Then to Gale, “She’s really great.” 

“I know,” he agreed.

“And so are you,” Katniss added, but kept her eyes on her work. “So yeah.” Gale nodded in response, but she didn’t look up.

* * *

When Peeta arrived a few minutes after the cookies were taken out of the oven, Gale prepared himself to leave. Prim insisted that he could stay and help decorate but this had already been draining and he wasn’t going to suffer just for the hell of it any longer. 

“Leaving already?” Peeta asked. Gale said his goodbyes to the women inside and passed Peeta in the parking lot on the way out. He had a huge box of icing dyes and piping tools. “You should get to decorate a few, at least,” Peeta told him. “You helped make them.”

Gale shrugged. “I’ll leave the art to you.”

“We’ll save you some,” Peeta told him. 

“Thanks.”

Peeta smiled and there was something about it that was immensely settling, which in itself was unsettling to a certain degree. “Did you two have a good morning?” Peeta asked, pausing near Gale instead of hurrying inside. Gale shrugged again. Peeta opened his mouth to say something else but before the words could form Katniss opened the front door.

They shared a look similar to something she and Gale used to do but Peeta knew what she wanted, and nodded his head ever so slightly. 

“I’ll see you,” Peeta said to Gale before heading inside. 

Gale climbed into his truck but Katniss followed him out. After starting the engine he slowly rolled the window down so they could still talk. 

“I won’t say anything to Peeta either,” Katniss told him. “About Madge.” 

“Thanks.” She didn’t move. “I didn’t want it to be a secret,” Gale eventually told her. She nodded in silent agreement. “I know that it’s complicated, all of it. But I wanted to be as open about it as I could because it’s real.”

Gale didn’t want to go into detail and didn’t feel like he should have to. Thankfully Katniss didn’t push him. 

“I hope it works out,” she told him. “If you… want to do that, I mean.” 

“Thank you,” Gale said. 

Katniss shrugged, just a little. “Thanks for telling me,” she said quietly. “Trusting me,” she added. Gale wasn’t prepared for the sudden ache in his chest at those two little words. “Will I see you soon?” she asked.

His voice was even but sad as he admitted, “I don’t know, Katniss.” 

Still, she nodded. “Goodbye, Gale.” 

* * *

On his drive home, Gale called Madge. He was rehearsing what he wanted to say to her voicemail when she inevitably wouldn’t answer when the ring ended mid-way and she said, “Hey.”

Gale’s heart dropped into his stomach. “Hi,” he responded softly. “I didn’t think you’d answer,” Gale found himself admitting.

“Why? How was your morning?” 

_I thought you were mad at me_, Gale wanted to say, but now it didn’t feel true. Last night felt lightyears away, clouded by substances and darkness that made it murky to understand. Gale exhaled deeply and tried to push out as much of his anxieties with his breath as he could. “It was long,” he answered her second question instead. “How was yours?” 

“I spent most of it in bed,” Madge told him. Then an easy subject change, “Have you named your plants yet?”

Gale laughed. “No. Should I?”

“Up to you,” she hummed casually. “Perhaps you’ll feel the weight of fatherhood if you give them names.” Gale laughed again, his shoulders easing down, feeling lighter already. “So you won’t _kill them_.”

“I won’t kill them,” Gale vowed. “So you can’t hate me.”

“Already couldn’t,” Madge answered gently.

* * *

Gale’s contacts had been bothering him all day. 

It was Wednesday and already the week felt longer than it should’ve been and his fucking contacts were bothering him. He gave up midday, thankful he kept a spare pair of glasses at the office. He didn’t have any clients to see for the rest of the day so by the time he was driving home he’d almost forgotten about them. 

He was practically to his apartment when Madge called. 

“Hi,” Gale answered immediately when he saw her name. This was commonplace now, a call after work. Sometimes Madge was making dinner, other times Gale was. No matter what he was doing he always answered, and whenever he was brave enough to be the one to dial her number she always answered, too.

“Hi. Are you home?”

“Almost,” he responded slowly. “Why, are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Madge answered. “Could I come over? I’ll get pizza.”

“You’re offering to feed me? Obviously I’m going to say yes.”

“I won’t get toppings,” Madge teased, which only made Gale rolls his eyes. He _enjoyed _toppings. It was not his fault that Delly and Thom inaccurately represented Gale’s pizza’s interests. “See you soon.”

He’d barely gotten in the door himself when Madge knocked on the door, his glasses now feeling heavy from where they were perched on his nose. He felt more flustered than she looked.

“Hi,” he greeted again, and she hugged him quickly before entering his place. “That was fast.”

“I was already on my way over,” Madge told him. She paused, leaning back to look at him. Her eyes lingered where he knew they would and Gale turned away from her before she could point them out. 

“Don’t,” he said.

“Don’t?”

“My contacts were giving me hell earlier,” Gale muttered. Madge toed off her shoes, her face still bright. 

“I just didn’t know you wore glasses. They’re cute.” Gale groaned and Madge’s smile grew. “I won’t say anything,” Madge promised. 

Gale shook his head, following after her with a sigh. “Why were you already on your way over?” 

“Why can’t I just come hang out with you?” she pushed back. Gale’s heart sang and he knew that he was smiling but he couldn’t help it. “I have to make sure you’re not killing your plants,” she added, faking a whisper. 

Gale shook his head and fought more laughter. “Did you order food yet?” he asked. He trailed after her as they headed for the living room. 

“Not yet. Wanted to see where you were feeling.”

“I could cook,” Gale offered. Madge dropped onto the couch and turned her body toward him. “I was gonna cook anyway. I have produce I don’t want to go bad.” 

Madge’s face looked bright. “Okay. I can help.”

“You don’t have to help.”

“I invited myself over.”

“I don’t care.” 

Twenty minutes later they were side by side in Gale’s kitchen. He’d been planning to cook enough that he had leftovers for lunch tomorrow so it didn’t matter to him that he was sharing tonight. He could always go someplace near work for food instead. 

Madge popped open a bottle of red wine and poured a glass for each of them. Gale busied himself with the dicing of vegetables while Madge settled herself near the stovetop to stir the pasta they’d started. 

“Did you name them yet?”

“Plants don’t need names,” Gale insisted. He’d started thinking of them as his friends, weirdly enough, but wouldn’t name them. He had the Bromeliad and the Aloe Vera and they didn’t need names. “They know who they are.”

At some point Madge checked on both of them and declared both plants happy and healthy, which Gale had been sure would be the case. He’d been mindful of them. 

They sat down at the table to eat and as they dug into their meal, Gale was suddenly hit with the revelation of how easy all of this had been. He’d gotten a little overwhelmed when she’d first arrived, unsure how to proceed, but the two of them knew how to operate together and it was so natural that Gale hadn’t even had to think about it. 

Dinner - chicken alfredo with roasted broccoli - was a hit. Gale had some bread rolls in the fridge that he’d been wanting to make for a while too so he popped them in the oven as well. The two of them teased each other about cooking and balanced meals and other unrelated things, catching up about work and talking about Thom and Delly, and Gale was happy. It was an unexpected evening, but a great one nonetheless. 

His place was small and he didn’t have a dishwasher and instead of letting the plates sit in the sink, Madge insisted she help him clean. They ended up side by side again, this time at the sink, Gale scrubbing while Madge dried. 

“Do you like living alone?” Madge asked.

Gale shrugged. “It’s okay,” he admitted. He’d been living alone for a few years now, landing a pretty solid job right out of college allowed that for him, but it had it’s pros and cons. “I like having my own routine, I guess.”

“Seems like it could get lonely.”

He nudged her. “Why do you think I’m always over your place?” he teased. 

Once the dishes were away they moved to the couch in the living room. She’d never come over just on her own like this but Gale didn’t mind in the slightest. 

“Why today?” Gale asked as they settled down.

She popped her shoulders into a shrug. “I realized how busy I’m about to get at work,” she told him. “Wanted to see you before it got crazy.”

Gale rushed with both warmth and concern. “How busy is busy?” he asked. “Am I gonna have to miss your voice?"

He was mostly joking but his heart sank as she answered, “Maybe.”

“Oh shit, really?”

“I don’t know. It’s going to be like, two weeks of hell.” 

Two weeks without seeing Madge felt like an absurdly long time. “Well how can I help?” Gale decided. 

Whether they were able to keep up their daily talking like they had started or not Gale still hadn’t really gotten an answer, but that didn’t matter. He would do what he could to support her, savor the moments that she was still able to share with him. 

“I’ll let you know,” Madge promised. 

They spent the rest of the night talking while Parks and Rec streamed in the background. Gale had a pretty big couch and still they were next to one another, in each other’s space in a comfortable way. Madge’s gala for work was finally approaching, something she more or less worked on all year, and this was the 75th anniversary so there was extra pressure for its success. 

At some point she leaned in and gently tugged his glasses from his face to try them on. “Oh gosh,” she said.

“Yep, thank you.”

Madge laughed a little as she passed them back. “I need reading glasses,” she told him. “But those are intense.”

Later, when she started hiding her words behind her hands to cover her yawns, Gale fought the urge to invite her to stay longer. Not wanting to shoo her either, he was mostly relieved when Madge said something about needing to get home before it got too late. 

As they stood together, Gale slowly walking her out after she collected her things, he told her, “I’m glad you came over.” 

Madge tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled sweetly. “Me too.”

“See you soon?” he asked.

“As soon as I can,” she answered as she climbed into her car. “I’ll let you know when I’m home.”

Gratitude washed over him that he didn’t even need to ask. “Thank you.” 

Madge waved at him through her windshield and Gale waved back, lingering outside his apartment until she had driven out of sight. 

* * *

Madge was not fucking around.

As the gala approached her work hours got wonky. She’d answer Gale’s texts but sporadically, and even once the day was over she took work home and hardly slept. He hadn’t any idea what demanded so much of her time but he was being as respectful as he could.

When she’d call him she always sounded tired, even if he could catch the smile in her voice. 

She texted Tuesday afternoon asking if Gale was coming to happy hour that night, and a few minutes later he received the actual invite from Finnick. Gale immediately agreed that he would come. From then time dragged on slower than Gale would’ve thought possible. Clients called him asking frustrating questions, his co-workers laughter down the hall grated on him, and the clock ticked loudly. 

Just as he was about to head out for the day one of his big name clients showed up at the office and Gale fought off every urge to groan. Instead he pinned a smile to his face and led the man back to his own space so they could talk. 

Thankfully the issue was resolved easily enough but he was still leaving work much later than he’d planned. Gale showed up to happy hour closer to 6:30pm and by then it was already in full swing. 

His friends had sanctioned the bar instead of a booth or two which made it easy to spot them. Gale’s eyes went to Madge right away, tucked on a stool between Bristel and Darius, and the relief at seeing her was surprisingly overwhelming. As he lingered in the doorway to steady himself Madge turned and caught sight of him and her smile grew on her face. 

He missed her. That was stupid, right? 

When she turned and saw him, Madge’s smile grew, and Gale couldn’t stamp down the heat in his chest even if he wanted to. There was an open spot by Johanna that Gale settled in to order a beer. They chatted for a bit, Johanna ribbing him for being late, Gale telling her to be thankful that he even came, before spots started shifting around. Darius went there and Delly here and Madge appeared by his side before Gale could even think to look for her.

“Hi,” she greeted.

“Hi,” he returned. Gale took a long drink from his beer before adding, “It’s nice to see you.” It sounded a lot like he was saying, _I’ve missed you_.

“I feel like it’s been forever,” Madge returned quietly. It almost sounded like she was saying _I’ve missed you, too_. “How was work?” 

It was easy for them to slide into a normal conversation. Ever since Thom pointed it out, Gale had to admit that oftentimes being around Madge just made it easier for him to breathe. 

“Did you drive?” Gale eventually asked, to which Madge shook her head. She’d caught a ride with Delly, home earlier due to her weird hours. “Let me drive you home,” Gale murmured. Madge’s eyes widened slightly but still she nodded. 

They both knew there was no reason for it. Delly and Thom were both there, both with cars that would be going that way once the night was over. In fact, Gale’s place was the opposite direction. At least a little bit out of the way to take Madge back to their place. 

“Now?” Madge asked. 

“Whenever.” She nodded again and Gale smiled, leaning toward her just a touch. Her smile grew too, softer and sweeter and too much for him. “I’m glad you came,” he told her. 

“Miss me?” she teased.

“I do,” Gale said, unthinking. 

“I didn’t realize you could feel the void.”

“Pssh. Are you kidding?” 

Madge looked up again and they were both smiling still. Gale wanted to hold himself in this moment forever, his chest ringing with clarity and joy. 

“Well the gala’s almost here,” Madge promised, moving into his space still. “It’ll be nice once it’s done.” She looked up at him, more in his space than Gale had realized. “You’ll come?”

“To the gala?” Gale asked. 

“Only if you want,” Madge hurried. 

“Of course,” he rushed, just as quick. His hand lifted to the small of her back. “I’d love to go.” 

“It’s next Thursday,” she minimized, “so if you can’t--”

“Madge,” Gale stopped her. “I’m gonna go. I didn’t know if I was invited. Of course I’m going.”

“It’s a fundraiser gala so everyone’s invited.”

Gale rolled his eyes but couldn’t stop smiling. “It’s going to be great. You should give yourself some more credit.” Madge turned a soft shade of pink that reminded Gale of the cherry blossoms blooming in the spring. “Are you worried?” Gale asked gently.

Madge shrugged, not exactly meeting his eyes, before taking a long drink from her glass. “A little.” She shook her head. “No, it’ll be fine.”

“What are you worried about?” Gale asked, still gentle, but again Madge shook her head. He nudged her with his elbow and reminded her, “It’ll be great.”

“You don’t know that,” Madge muttered, still not looking at him. “You’re just saying it.”

“Yeah, you know me,” Gale jeered. “I love to just say nice things that I don’t believe are true.” Madge rolled her eyes but her smile returned, small and fleeting, and it was incredible. “Talk to me,” he tried again, wanting to be that grounding person for her that she so often was for him.

Madge briefly glanced down the row at all of their friends before looking back to Gale, mouth pulled to the side. “Could we go?”

Gale nearly sprung from his seat. “Yeah.” Fuck happy hour. The only reason he was here was for Madge anyway. 

She shook her head quickly, eyebrows furrowed. “No, you only just got here.”

“And I’ve already finished my beer,” Gale shot back. “Let’s go,” he urged. “It’s okay.” His voice softened to add, “I’d rather just be with you anyway.”

Her blush returned then and Gale couldn’t help but think that he was finally figuring all of this out. He felt confident, more like himself than he had in a long time, and Madge was looking at him with wide eyes as blue as a perfect summer sky. 

“When did you get so smooth?” she teased back, and Gale’s smile only grew. 

“I’ve always been smooth.” 

“No.”

“Have so,” Gale pushed. “You just haven’t noticed because I’m _that _smooth.”

She rolled her eyes but he could tell that she was charmed by him in the way her smile grew. 

“Let me say goodbye,” Madge settled with, and Gale nodded to show he agreed. 

She’d been there longer so she made some laps while Gale paid for their drinks and made idle chit-chat with Darius, who was looking at him with his face scrunched but an eyebrow arched curiously. Next to Darius was Bristel, who was smirking, and beside her were Finnick and Thom both grinning like stupid little shits. Gale shook his head at them but no one said a thing. 

When Madge returned to him Gale’s heart started skipping beats. They left the bar together, Madge at his side as they walked, Gale refusing to let himself grow nervous at the thought of being alone with her. 

“So it’s a fundraiser gala?” Gale asked as they climbed into his truck. “What does that mean?”

“It means everyone comes together to celebrate the organization while also hopefully paying us lots of money for our auction items so we can be less broke.”

“Living the non-profit dream,” Gale teased.

“Seriously,” Madge muttered. 

“How much are tickets?” 

“Don’t even,” she returned. “Your name’ll be on a list.”

“You’re joking. It’s a _fundraiser_ _gala_, Madge. Let me pay for my own ticket.”

“No.”

He scoffed, amused more than anything. “Well good thing there are auction items then.”

On the drive to her place they caught up on all the little things that they’d missed since she’d gotten busy. Even the soft cadence of her voice was more comforting than Gale had expected it to be. 

“You still finding time to sleep?” he asked. “Eat? Exist?”

“Eat, yes. Sleep, maybe. Exist?” Madge considered this. “Not sure. I’ve woken up on the couch a couple of times with blankets over me, so Delly and Thom are making sure I’m okay at least.”

“I can only hope.” 

Even driving Gale was always aware of her, and when her stillness set in mid-story Gale turned for a quick glance in her direction. She’d just been looking his way, her blue eyes wide and attentive as he spoke, and he couldn’t help the new smile that found him as he continued on. They were nearly home. Another glance, she was looking still, and as the driver Gale felt for the first time how unfair it was that he couldn’t look back. 

“Staring,” he tried to joke. When he looked to her again Madge had looked away, her eyes dropping to her lap as he teased her with their familiar bit. Normally Gale had been the one caught staring. He’d never noticed enough to call her out on it before. 

She didn’t respond right away.

“Why’d you offer to drive me?” Madge asked after he cut the engine. 

With the truck settling into silence, her words felt like they had more weight to them. Gale felt his heartbeat uptick but shrugged all the same, trying to keep himself small. He’d already told her that he’d missed her. So, another truth, then. 

“I like being with you,” Gale said. He unbuckled and shifted to face her, trying not to look too fond. “Is that alright?”

“Of course it’s alright,” she agreed quietly. Madge unbuckled too but made no effort to reach for the door. Instead she turned to face him, and Gale’s chest felt tighter in an instant. “I’m sorry I haven’t been around as much.”

“You’re busy,” Gale said gently. “I get that.” She nodded slowly, eyes looking past him, like she was thinking about if she actually agreed. “Are you excited for it?” he asked, trying to keep his voice down.

“What, the gala? I guess.” She shrugged, her eyes coming back into focus. “I like dressing up.”

Gale chuckled. “Of course.”

“You asked,” she pushed back. “I’m excited for it to be over. I keep having stress dreams.” 

Gale frowned. He wanted to tell her that she could call him but something about that felt extremely intimate. As though they haven’t done that before, as though they weren’t already whispering in the dark of his truck somehow feeling closer than Gale felt like they’d ever been. 

“Like what?” he prompted. 

“Like…” Madge considered her answered. “Like none of the performers show up,” she told him, “and everyone’s standing around waiting to dance but there’s just speaker static. Or all of the food goes bad and suddenly everyone starts throwing up at the same time.” 

Gale reached out for her and caught her hand. “Good thing you’re too prepared for either of those things to happen.”

“Good thing,” Madge agreed tiredly, sliding her hand into his. “Another week.” 

“Another week,” Gale encouraged. “You’re almost there. It’s gonna kick ass.” Madge’s smile returned from earlier and Gale tugged her toward him slightly. “What?” 

“Nothing.” 

Gale laughed. “Sure.” 

“You don’t have to come,” she said.

“I want to go, Madge.” He tugged her hand toward him. “If you don’t want me there say so.”

“I want you there,” Madge responded softly. They held one another’s gaze for a moment that Gale knew was too long but he didn’t know what to do about it. They had shifted closer than either of them had realized and Gale had yet to pull away, but neither had she. “It’s kind of like that night,” Madge said suddenly, voice soft kept soft to not shatter what had formed around them. 

“What night?” Gale whispered back.

Her smile was nervous before she answered, “When you drove me home from the airport. And we just parked.”

The two of them near strangers, only barely having shared a laugh. Nothing nearing friendship between them. Stuck to different sides of the truck, forced to wait under a bridge for a storm to pass.

“Now?” he asked. “No it’s not.” 

This was nothing like that. Madge was in his arms now, his heart pounding at the thought of her closer still, a terribly desperate desire to end the space between them himself. And they were sitting here, parked in Thom’s large driveway, just sitting because they wanted to. The car was cool and quiet and the summer air sang with crickets instead of dancing with the rain. 

“It’s dark. We’re parked.” 

“It’s not storming. And we’re not lost,” Gale murmured. He was exactly where he wanted to be.

Madge tipped her head as she thought about this. “No, I guess not,” she agreed softly. Her eyes were clear as she added, “But we are together.”

She whispered the words like speaking them was enacting magic.

Slowly, he kissed her. He didn't have to think about it. Gale took his time to close the distance, to let her pull away if she wanted but Madge lifted her hand up to cup his cheek before their lips had even touched. His eyes fell shut and his hands scrambled to pull her closer and then she was on his lap and they were still kissing, her lips warm, her body hot against his. 

What started like the slow rumble of thunder across an open sky turned in a flash, Madge winding her arms around him to feel Gale against her. He groaned as her hips rocked against his and kept his hands firm against her back despite wanting to drag them down further. Her mouth curved in a sudden, sharp smile, and then she exhaled a laugh that made Gale light up with one too.

Madge pulled back then, her hands framing his face as she studied him, and Gale’s heart rattled around his chest as he wondered what she was looking for--what she saw. He didn’t have time to ask before she was kissing him again, and then it was different still. Not a question, not the rush of a spark, but something more familiar. Something steady. 

They shifted, one of Gale’s hands resting of her hip while the other lifted to cup her cheek like she’d done with his. Her hands fell, one on his side, the other spreading wide across his neck. He drew her in and Madge kissed him back like maybe she’d wanted to for a while and that thought alone made Gale’s entire chest squeeze so tight it was as thought his lungs had shrunk so small they ceased to exist. 

Gale dropped his head backwards and Madge sunk down, comfortable and close but enough to give him the space to breathe. He didn’t want her far but still breathing was becoming a challenge and he was starting to worry that the easy rhythm they’d just created together had been broken. 

“You make me feel…” he started, not quite sure what he was going to say himself.

But Madge stopped him with a quick kiss. “Don’t,” she murmured. 

Then they were kissing again, Gale feeling hazy but in a better way, Madge smiling against his lips. 

That was it, though. _Madge made him feel._ She was the first person after everything had happened to awaken the buzz inside his chest that made him ring with longing and he never wanted it to end. 

Gale wasn’t sure how long they made out after that but eventually Madge’s phone chimed signaling that Delly and Thom were on their way home. When they finally broke apart Gale wished that he could freeze time. He would’ve given what he could to stretch this moment of _after _just a little bit. 

Gale wasn’t sure where to start. “We could go to my place,” Gale exhaled, ragged. His hands rested firmly on her hips and she shifted forward, forcing him to swallow a groan. 

“And do what?” she asked. Madge had a similar sort of breathlessness to her and it made Gale dizzy.

“This.” He shook his head. “Sleep. I’ll drive you back in the morning.” He reached up with one hand to tug her back in and Madge peeled back, the opposite direction completely. She settled down in the seat beside him and turned, her body facing his for a moment before she gathered her things from by her feet. 

“We’re already here,” she murmured, distant. “And we both have work tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Gale responded, quiet. Madge hesitated and Gale stayed frozen, wishing they were moments before with her on top of him again. “Madge,” he started, but her hand was already resting on the door handle. “Goodnight,” he settled with. 

Madge pushed open the door without echoing the sentiment. Gale redirected his attention and started up his engine as she climbed out. Once she was standing outside she turned back, hesitating, and Gale couldn’t dare to hope for anything.

“Text me when you’re home?” she asked. 

“Yeah. Try and get some rest.” 

“Goodnight,” she finally whispered. Madge shut the door and hurried up to the house, Gale waiting until she keyed inside to drop his forehead to the steering wheel with a groan. 

_Fuck_. 

He couldn’t even give himself long to process because Thom and Delly were on their way back and Gale didn’t want to be caught in their fucking _driveway_. 

Gale sat in silence on the ride home. He texted her before he’d even keyed through the door. 

**Gale  
**Home

She “loved” the message, but never texted back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you all so much for the love <3


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi friends! sorry it took me a bit longer than i thought it would, but i hope you enjoy the final chapter! xoxo all my love
> 
> PS - apologies for typos! i'll go through soon & edit but wanted to get it out to y'all.

After a fairly sleepless night spent wondering what a fucking idiot he was and how he could be so fucking stupid to ruin something with someone so _good--_Gale woke up to a text. 

**Madge  
**when’s the last time you watered your bromeliad?  
not the stalk the base

Gale frowned, thought about it, and texted back.

**Gale  
**I don’t think I have

**Madge  
**??!**  
**check the soil!

He exhaled a laugh as he climbed out of bed, crossing the room to fulfill her request. The sun was out already so he opened the curtain and already felt better greeting the morning. 

**Gale  
**Looking dry

**Madge  
**please tend to your plant

Gale started getting ready for his day so he never texted her back, and she never sent anything after that, and he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to feel about it. He carried his bromeliad to the shower and pulled down the shower head, giving the base a solid run through of water before heading out the door. 

Around lunch he thought of her again. 

**Gale  
**Hope your day isn’t too crazy

A few hours later she “loved” the message but again, nothing after that. 

By the end of the day Gale had gotten into his own head. To be fair he’d spent most of the day there but he knew as soon as the sun started to set it would only get worse. He dialed Thom’s number as he was walking out of his office, relieved when his friend answered quickly. 

“You okay?” Thom asked.

“What?”

“I don’t know, you never call me.” Gale climbed into his car but didn’t start the engine. “Wanna come over?” 

Gale exhaled deeply. “I don’t think I should.”

“What? Why?” When Gale didn’t answer Thom added, “I can come to you?”

“Is that a question?” Gale wondered.

Thom decided to come to him, which was great. Gale really did enjoy his own place. Thom’s had a big backyard and lots of space and a pretty nice TV in the basement and, well, Madge, but Gale’s apartment was comfortable and he could drink as much alcohol as he wanted and not have to drive after. It did feel rare that people came to him instead of the other way around.

But Thom brought Chinese and Gale had beer in the fridge and half an hour after his friend arrived, the two of them were full and sated. The TV hadn’t been turned on yet so they sat in post-meal silence until Thom leaned forward to crack open another can of beer.

“So,” he finally prompted.

Gale groaned, wishing that his couch would swallow him whole. “What do you know?” Gale asked.

“Me?” Thom pushed back. “I don’t know shit! What the hell is going on?” 

Gale groaned again, lifting his hands to cover his face. “Fuck’s sake,” he exhaled slowly. “We kissed last night.” 

Thom choked on his drink. “_What?!” _

“Me and Madge. More than kissed,” Gale said. “Like full on made out with each other.”

“Oh my God.”

“Then she fucking _bolted,” _Gale added. “And then this morning she texted me about my fucking plants!” Thom sat across from him, slack-jaw. Gale extended his arms to the universe widely. “What now?” Gale asked, more to the room at large than to Thom, and sighed again before sinking back into the couch. “She’s stressed with work,” Gale lamented. 

“True,” Thom said slowly, recovering. “But. That isn’t an excuse for her to do that and bounce.” 

Gale returned his hands to his face. “What did I do wrong?” Gale asked, mostly a whisper. He’d been thinking and planning and waiting and just like that--disaster. “Does anyone ever fucking get the timing right?” 

“Oh my God shut up you are being _especially _dramatic,” Thom said. He sat up and leaned toward him. “Gale it doesn’t sound like you did anything wrong. It sounds like Madge freaked out.” 

“It might’ve been too fast,” Gale said urgently.

“You’ve been dancing around each other for weeks!”

Rushing still, “She wasn’t ready.”

“_She kissed you back_.” 

Gale pressed his hands harder into his face. He fucking hated feeling like this. He’d never had to go through this with Katniss. Women in-between had been meaningless. This was supposed to mean something real and he was so fucking terrified he’d ruined it.

“I have to talk to her,” he rasped, and though he couldn’t see him Gale knew Thom was nodding in agreement. 

“Just come to my place tomorrow morning,” Thom said. “Let’s go on a hike, but meet at mine. You’re picking me up in your truck. Won’t stay long enough for it to be an issue but long enough for you to say something.”

Finally Gale lowered his hands from his face. “You’re my best friend,” Gale told him seriously.

Thom grinned. “Uh-huh.” He took a long swig of beer and then let out a belch. “Damn. I can’t believe this is happening.” Sighing, Gale leaned forward to grab another beer for himself. “I mean there’s still sorting out all the shit, but it’s happening.”

“Don’t be so sure,” Gale grumbled.

“I am. So do you want to come over closer to 9, then?”

Gale frowned. “Seriously?”

“Yes, dude, seriously.” 

Gale hated uncertainty like this. He hated that he hated it. He hated that he didn’t used to be so afraid and now he was, almost always, that he was doing something wrong. He hated that the actions of a single person could make him hate himself like that. 

But he loved Thom.

“Where should we go?” Gale asked quietly. 

Thom leaned forward to grab a beer before leaning over and handing it to Gale in silent understanding of things that Gale wouldn't dare to say. 

“Some place you haven’t been in awhile,” Thom answered. 

“I know the perfect spot.”

* * *

Gale dreaded the morning.

He took his time getting ready. Slow stretch before climbing out of bed, so he wouldn’t be sore later. Puttering around his apartment as his coffee brewed while he checked on both of his plants. A brief call to Posy to see how her Saturday morning was going (she was sleeping and not pleased to be bothered before noon). 

When he couldn’t put it off any longer, Gale finally made the drive to Thom’s. Outside he hesitated, hating that he was hesitating and doing it anyway. “Fuck,” he exhaled. Fuck it. 

After shooting off a text to Thom he climbed out of his truck. The door was unlocked so with a quick knock he let himself in. He’d made this walk hundreds of times, down the long hallway to the kitchen, yet this was the only time he could recall the sound of his heart pounding so loudly in his ears it was the only thing he could think about. 

_She might still be asleep_, Gale reasoned, but even from rooms away he could hear the soft rise of her voice in conversation. 

“Anyone home?” Gale called. It would be rude to ambush them. Still, the voices dropped. 

“In here,” Delly responded after a second. Gale took a deep breath and stepped inside the kitchen. His eyes found Madge immediately where she stood by the coffee pot, her back to the doorway as she mixed herself a mug. She glanced over her shoulder briefly and Gale looked away at once, attention on Delly instead. “Hi,” she said.

“Hi,” Gale returned. 

“Morning,” Madge said quietly, still faced away.

“Thom and I are--”

“Hiking, he said,” Delly agreed. His eyes shifted over to Madge and when he returned to looking at Delly, her face had puckered sadly. “I was just actually about to hop in the shower,” Delly said, voice higher than usual, but a knowing look in her eyes that made Gale rush with gratitude for her. “Have fun today! And Madge,” Delly added as she headed out of the kitchen, “don’t spend all day working, okay?”

“Mm-hm,” she hummed. 

Gale said goodbye and then turned back to Madge, finding her leaning back against the counter and looking in his direction. His heart stuttered in his chest. She looked tired but when she smiled it lit up her entire face, like all the rays from the summer sun that she’d soaked up this year had wrapped around her for comfort. 

“Good morning,” Gale said softly. 

She smiled into her sip of coffee. “Where’re you two headed today?” she asked after her drink. 

Gale felt like he had a knot in his throat. Whether that was from where he and Thom would be headed later or the fact that Madge seemed virtually unaffected while talking to him he couldn’t be sure. 

“There’s a trail I used to hike a lot in high school,” he told her. He wouldn’t say _with Katniss_, though it were true. He needed to hike this trail without her now, rediscover the beauty in a place he’d loved while they were together, on his own. “Thom’s never been.”

“That’ll be nice.”

“You’re working?” he wondered. Madge nodded once. “Hopefully not all day.”

“No, not all day.” 

Silence set in. Gale couldn’t stop wondering what she was thinking. In the end it wouldn’t matter, because until he asked he’d never know. She took another drink from her mug and remained back against the counter as though she was waiting for him to speak. 

“Look,” Gale finally started. Madge immediately tensed and with it he felt his walls beginning to build. “Do you regret it?”

Madge exhaled shortly. “Gale.” 

“I want to talk about it,” he urged with a step in her direction. He _had _to. He couldn’t go back to how things had been before in passive silence. “If you have to wait until things at work die down then fine, but I won’t pretend like it didn’t happen.” 

It was a moment before she spoke again. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. She lowered her mug a little, most of her attention on the glass than on him. “About that night…” Madge trailed off, and though he was desperate to hear how she’d finish the sentence he couldn’t bring himself to prompt her forward. She turned away from him slightly and Gale felt himself growing afraid again. “I didn’t mean to run like I did,” Madge settled with quietly. 

Gale took another tentative step toward her. “Do you regret it?” he asked again. 

Her face flickered with something he couldn’t read. “I…” she turned away from him again but he was closer now. “I’m sorry. I need to wait until after the gala.” 

He stopped where he was, giving her the distance she wanted. “Okay,” he answered. 

It was not the answer he wanted from her in the slightest. In fact his heart felt a little fractured in ways he hadn’t known were possible and he couldn’t quite be sure what it meant. 

“It needs to be perfect,” Madge rushed. He knew she meant the gala but still his heart jumped. He wanted them to have the time to really sit and talk about this. He wanted, desperately, for it to go well. He couldn’t hope for perfect. “I have to meet with the caterers today. And I want to be able to…” she shook her head and Gale did too. 

“It’s okay,” he said when she never finished. “I offered.” 

He could wait. As long as he knew the kiss would be talked about eventually, soon. 

Madge’s eyes darted up to his again and Gale took a steadying breath. Whatever happened, it would be okay. 

“You’ll still come?” she wondered quietly. 

It took him a moment to realize what she was talking about. “To the gala?” he blanched. His recovery was swift. “Will my name still be on a list?” 

Madge rolled her eyes, trying to hide her smile in her mug. “Guess you’ll have to be there to find out.” She strode past him without saying anything else.

* * *

The drive to the park Gale was taking them too was mostly quiet. Thom, despite being a consistently early riser, wasn’t actually much of a morning person. He enjoyed the silence of gazing out the windows of Gale’s truck while Gale enjoyed the silence similarly, so he didn’t have to talk about Madge. 

Just think about her.

He couldn’t be sure how to interpret her actions or her words. They were all fairly neutral. Waiting until after the gala just meant more time to process. It was fine. It would be fine. 

“Stop thinking about it,” Thom said.

“Well you aren’t helping.”

Thom exhaled and sat up a little in his seat. “Where are we headed?” Thom asked

Gale told Thom all about the trail that they were on their way to. When he was young, before his father passed, the two of them explored new hikes whenever they were able. Gale loved being outside and his father Asher thought it would be good to direct all of his energy into something physical. They wound up hiking frequently, Gale outgrowing his boots every season. 

This was the last trail he and his father hiked together before his father passed.

Asher’s death was sudden and surprising. Even now Gale could reach into his chest and easily feel the grief that came with losing him. 

He avoided the trail for as long as he could. A week or so after the funeral Gale had been kicking a soccer ball around the backyard with Rory and Vick when his mother went into labor with Posy. The following hours were chaotic and full of both celebration and sadness.

The next free moment Gale had, he went hiking. 

He climbed the twisting trail that he and Thom were on their way to now, his feet following the path without thinking, and when he got to the top of the peak with a view into the valley he screamed until his throat was raw. He screamed and cried and let himself be sad for the first time since they lowered his father into the ground.

Gale couldn’t remember how long he sat by the view. Eventually his chest restricted and his eyes cleared and he made the trek back down the trail. At the base of it, he met Katniss.

“It felt like fate,” Gale told Thom. They’d finally arrived and parked before starting their own ascent. “She’d just lost her dad too. And I remember thinking--” he forced out a short laugh, shaking his head at how ridiculous it sounded now. “I remember thinking _we’re supposed to fix each other_.” 

Thom shrugged. “Didn’t you?” 

Gale shook his head again, letting out a long breath. “Nah.”

“I don’t know,” Thom said slowly. “You grieved your dad’s together. No?”

They did. 

Gale knew he would do whatever he had to do to support his family. He had a new sister at the time, a mother that was trying her hardest not to be broken, two wild younger brother that never wanted to listen and didn’t always understand why their father wasn’t coming back. He had enough motivation to push through the pain.

But Katniss was different. She wasn’t family, yet. She became another person that Gale grew to care about after he’d already sewn his heart shut. She was another reason to get out of bed, to fight the darkness that tried suffocating him whenever it had a chance. 

“I guess,” Gale murmured.

They needed each other then, him and Katniss. She quickly became his best friend, and he hers. They healed together. Hiked together. When Gale fell for her, it felt like the obvious next step. 

Later, at the top of the hike as he and Thom looked out into the valley, his calves ached from the exercise and his chest felt tight. This was the place he most often grieved for his father, but now it felt like he was grieving Katniss a little bit too. 

“You’re still allowed to remember all of the good,” Thom told him eventually. Gale couldn’t look at him but instead kept his eyes on the view. “With Katniss,” he elaborated. “You two went through a lot together.” Gale started to shake his head but Thom persisted. “Really, Gale. It’s okay to hang on to the good things that you two shared. You _deserve _to. It doesn’t mean that they’ll happen again or whatever but--they _did _happen.” 

With Thom’s words Gale felt something loosen inside of him, felt something break. 

He missed her. 

The way that things fell apart between them would always hurt, and Gale wasn’t sure that he’d ever be able to recover in a way that allowed for a deep connection between the two of them again. But Thom was right. They did have their good moments and Gale was allowed to remember those fondly. 

“I still feel like such an idiot sometimes,” Gale muttered. 

“You loved her,” Thom offered gently. Truly, he had. “And, Gale,” he said, even softer. “She loved you too. That means something. Even if it’s not what you thought it would mean when you were younger.” 

Gale supposed that Thom was right. He’d try to hold onto that. 

* * *

Sunday evening found Gale restless. 

After the hike the day before, Gale finally found a sense of peace. Things with Katniss had felt hectic for so long, even with time and distance. His brain was still sending thoughts of her bounding around even though they had quieted greatly. 

Taking that trail without her, with Thom instead, it felt like a goodbye that Gale needed.

When he woke Sunday he wasn’t thinking about Katniss at all. He felt as though he’d finally let her go. Instead he was thinking about Madge and he was _stressed_.

Why did she want to wait until after the gala? Because she didn’t feel the same, but valued Gale’s friendship, so she still wanted him at the event? Or maybe she did feel the same but didn’t think he did, so she wanted to wait until things were more solid?

Thinking about the _why _made him anxious. 

The morning bled into the afternoon bled into the evening and he felt like he wasn’t being productive. He forced himself out of his house to grocery shop, tended to his plants, called home, and still time dragged on. 

**Gale  
**Hope you don’t have to work today too. 

He sent the text mid-afternoon and when the sun started to set and he hadn’t heard from her, his heart clenched. 

So he called Finnick. 

It took a few rings before he answered. “Hello!” 

“Could I come over?” Gale rushed. “I need to get out of my apartment.” And out of his head. He couldn’t do that by himself. 

“Sure,” Finnick said slowly. “But fair warning--”

“It’s fine,” Gale cut him off. He couldn’t care less about whatever stipulations Finnick had at the moment. “I’ll be there in fifteen.” 

“Alright!” 

Gale hung up before either of them could say anything else, already on his way out of his place. The drive to Finnick’s wasn’t too long, but Gale spent it unable to get out of his thoughts. He knew that he was reading into things that didn’t need to be read into and spiraling about absolutely nothing but he needed someone else to tell him that. Thom already had, but the more voices of reason the better.

Annie let Gale in when he arrived and Gale thundered down to the basement. “You can’t be mad I didn’t tell you first,” Gale started as he rounded the corner, where he finally found Finnick.

Who was sitting with Peeta. 

Finnick arched an eyebrow, grinning sheepishly. “Mad you didn’t tell me what first?” he asked.

Gale had frozen where he was.

“Hello,” Peeta eventually greeted.

“I tried to warn you,” Finnick reminded him. He had, that was true.

“It’s fine,” Gale said, eyes flickering between the two men again. 

“What are you telling me not first?” Finnick pushed. Gale hesitated. He should’ve waited to hear Finnick’s stipulations before rushing over. Now he felt like an ass--interrupting his and Peeta’s time, withholding information. “Come sit!” Finnick urged.

“I could go,” Peeta offered, already moving to stand. Gale quickly shook his head and held out his hands to keep Peeta from leaving while slowly moving to join them where they sat. “It’s alright, Gale.”

“No, you should stay,” Gale decided. “I don’t need to--” Gale stopped and took a breath, centering himself again. “I needed to get out of my place,” he said evenly as he sat in the open recliner, which was true. “I didn’t mean to intrude.”

“You didn’t,” Finnick insisted. Gale glanced at the television that had been rigged for video games and felt a little bit of relief. “What’s up?”

“How come you never invite me over just to play video games?” Gale asked as he kicked his feet up.

Peeta sniggered. “Much like you,” he said, “I also invited myself.” 

“I’ve got another controller,” Finnick offered, shooting up to stand so he could find it. 

Gale and Peeta exchanged another glance and Peeta offered him a kind smile that really did help settle whatever kept fluttering around in his chest. 

The three men played video games for the next hour or so, Gale trying to force himself to pay attention but unable to stop thinking about _Madge _which just meant he was absolutely sucking ass. 

“Dude,” Finnick commented when Gale died. Again. 

Gale clenched his jaw, knowing his friend was teasing him but also not wanting to talk about feelings in front of Peeta. 

“Sorry,” Gale muttered. 

“I don’t mean to nose my way into things that aren’t my business,” Peeta started slowly. Gale considered leveling him with a look that said _then don’t_, but instead kept his eyes on the screen as he respawned. “But. Is this about… Madge?” 

Gale’s eyes snapped over to him. “What do you know?” he demanded.

Peeta’s gaze flickered over to Gale for a moment before another smile found his face. “Finnick’s a lousy secret keeper,” Peeta said as he looked back to the TV screen. Finnick huffed, throwing out his elbow to try and hit Peeta, who dodged out of the way with a laugh. “I’m joking,” he added quickly. 

“Please do not _slander_ me,” Finnick called, kicking out his leg to still try and get Peeta. 

Peeta laughed. “Stop!” 

Gale had yet to recover.

“She told me,” Peeta eventually conceded, turning back to Gale. “Madge,” he added firmly, as though knowing Gale’s mind darted to Katniss for even the briefest of moments. “About…” now he was hesitating but Gale was hanging on his words. “Happy hour?”

Finnick lit up. “What happened at happy hour?” he sang. 

Gale’s eyes were still on Peeta. “What did she tell you?” Gale asked, careful to keep his voice gentle. It wasn’t a demand, he didn’t _need_ to know, but he did feel desperate. “How badly did I fuck this up?”

Peeta’s smile wavered briefly, his eyebrows coming together in confusion. “You didn’t,” Peeta answered. 

Gale hesitated. “You’re sure?”

Peeta nodded, eyes warm. “I’m sure.” 

“I’m _dying_,” Finnick pressed. “Please. Someone tell me about happy hour.” Peeta turned to their friend with a mischievous look that Finnick easily mimicked before wagging his eyebrows in Gale’s direction. “Excellent.”

“Stop it,” Gale grumbled, which only made the two other men smile more. Still, Peeta’s words made it easier to breathe. “Do you know why work is so crazy for her right now?” Gale asked.

He knew that she was in charge of the gala which in itself was a huge feat, but her busyness felt insane. Gale still couldn’t understand why it was so hard to get ahold of her or why she had such little spare time when she wasn’t even at the office.

Peeta shook his head, but his smile remained. “I can’t say.”

“But it’s something,” Gale urged. “Right?” He needed to know that she wasn’t busy just because she needed to be busy -- because she needed to be away from him. 

“You’ll see,” Peeta promised, and Gale believed him. He wished it was easier to dislike Peeta. “You’re still going, right?”

“Yeah.” Peeta’s smile lingered, easily warm in ways that Gale knew he would never be able to embody so naturally. “You’ll be there?” 

The three of them spoke briefly about Madge’s gala and that they’d all be attending, but after all of that Gale needed to stop talking about her. They went back to video games and his focus improved slightly but his thoughts lingered. 

She talked about him with Peeta. 

Something about that made his chest bubbly. 

* * *

When Gale got home that night he had a text. 

**Madge  
**so ready for this gala to be over fml

Seeing her name on his screen was both comforting and frightening. 

**Gale  
**Everything okay?

**Madge  
**just tired

Fuck uncertainty and fuck nerves and fuck talking in code, he missed her.

**Gale  
**It’ll be over soon. And it’ll be great.  
Do you get recovery days? Hopefully? 

**Madge  
**a few yeah  
how was your day?

Gale settled down on the couch and allowed himself a smile. Peeta had said that Gale hadn’t ruined anything and he desperately wanted to believe it. 

**Gale  
**Went to Finnick’s tonight and Mellark was over. We played video games for a while. 

**Madge  
**aw that sounds nice

**Gale  
**It was.  
How was yours? 

**Madge  
**blah  
i should sleep 

**Gale  
**For sure.  
I’ll see you Thursday.

**Madge  
**!!  
see you thursday! 

* * *

“What the fuck am I supposed to wear to a fucking fundraiser _gala_?” Gale grumbled into the phone. “There’s no dress code on this stupid invitation and--”

“A nice shirt and jacket will be _fine_, Gale.” 

He didn’t have a lot of time to get ready after work and before the gala but thankfully his mother had answered on the first ring. He couldn’t believe that it was already Thursday. 

“She’s going to look incredible. This is annoying.”

Hazelle chuckled on the other end. “Gale. Relax.” 

Gale groaned loudly and changed his phone to speaker as he continued to get ready. He was meeting Thom and Delly there but had heard from various folks who would also be there. Finnick and Annie had gotten tickets weeks ago, and while Katniss wouldn’t be there tonight Peeta had said he would. Bristel also claimed she’d be making an appearance. 

There’d be lots of people around. Gale would have plenty of distractions for when Madge inevitably didn’t speak to him. 

But she had texted him earlier.

**Madge  
**see you tonight?

**Gale  
**I’ll be there. 

Still, he felt unprepared. 

He waited until he knew that Delly and Thom would be inside before actually climbing out of his truck that night to enter the gala. Like Madge had said, his name was on a list, and he was ushered into the ballroom with ease.

It was incredible.

The whole place had been decorated with flowers. Every table held a different summer bouquet, different colors, and even the pillars had been adorned with strings interweaved with more. The air was sweet but not overwhelming, and rainbow followed Gale wherever he looked.

Delly found him first and the dress that she was wearing was right on theme--a loud pink that made it hard to look at her for too long. “Have you seen Madge yet?” Gale asked. 

She swat at his hands where he was fidgeting with his tie. “Not yet,” Delly answered.

“This place is _huge_,” Thom marveled. 

Gale agreed, turning to take the entire ballroom in again. They had this room and two more, all connected, all colorful. Gale wondered how much time Madge had spent decorating alone or if she had help. It seemed like maybe both could be true for times. 

They browsed the next room that was lined with auction items people were already bidding on. Tickets donated from sports teams or museums, gift cards from nearby restaurants. The deals were great and Gale wrote down his name and contact info on a few of them, making a note to come back and check later to see if he’d been knocked out so he could bid again. 

The night had hardly started but the room was already growing more difficult to move around in from how many people had arrived. Again they moved into the next room and finally, they found her. 

Gale stood with Thom and Delly and watched as Madge fluttered around the room. It was interesting to see her like this, a full-blown social butterfly, instead of the fairly introverted women that he’d come to know. Her smile was 100 watt and she looked beautiful, her long, wine-colored dress flowing after her as she shook hands with strangers.

“What a schmoozer,” Delly said with a grin when she finally figured out where Gale was looking. He managed a smile in response. Delly nudged him with her elbow and said, “_Go on_, idiot.”

“She’ll make her rounds,” Gale returned. Delly rolled her eyes but was still smiling, and Gale couldn’t help but wonder if Thom had been the one to talk to her or if Madge had said something (or even Peeta could’ve been Delly’s in, he supposed), but her grin let on that she knew more than she’d shared with him. 

Besides, it wasn’t like he’d get to hangout with Madge tonight. He knew that. She was working. This was a work event. He was here to support her, that was all. The second after she hugged all of her friends she’d be whisked away again, off to meet more important folks. 

“There’s our favorite politician’s daughter,” Thom jeered suddenly and Gale turned, finding Madge striding toward the three of them with a more familiar smile than the one from moments before. Delly held her arms out first for a hug and Madge went straight into them, then to Thom. “Having fun?”

“Oh sure,” Madge said as she pulled back. “Most of the performers were half an hour late and our executive director is still stuck in traffic but at least you all are here.” 

Her eyes flickered over to Gale and he managed a smile for her. When she looked back to Thom and Delly they were already stepping backwards slowly, slyly, and Gale frowned at them for their lack of subtlety. But Madge grabbed his hand and guided him a few steps the other direction, creating an even bigger distance between the groups. 

“You made it,” Madge said. 

His throat was dry. “Pretty dress,” Gale murmured. 

Madge’s mouth quirked to the side. “I’m pretty much hosting a gala. I want to look nice, don’t I?” 

“You always look nice.” Gale shook his head slowly, knowing it wasn’t enough. “You look incredible,” he corrected softly. She was always beautiful, that was true, but tonight she was glowing. In her element everything about her radiated differently. Her eyes shining, her golden hair unreal. “I don’t know what else to say.” 

She smiled and that too felt like a gift he’d never been given before, though he knew he had. 

“You look nice too,” Madge answered. She took another step closer to him and Gale wished immediately that they were somewhere else. The gala was crowded, full of sounds and strangers that Gale didn’t want to deal with. Besides, Madge was busy. Literally working. She looked up at him slowly as though remembering the same thing. “I’ll find you,” Madge promised.

Gale forced a smile, knowing it wasn’t personal. “Don’t stress,” he told her. They’d find time sooner or later, and if tonight wasn’t the night that was alright. 

“When I have more time,” Madge emphasized, “I’ll find you.”

“I don’t want you to worry.” Their hands found one another's and he squeezed her fingertips gently. “This place… Madge, you did an amazing job.”

She stepped closer to him as though his energy had tugged her in. “Thank you,” she exhaled. “It’s not over yet.” _Barely started_, Gale thought humorously. “I still have to perform.”

Gale shook his head, confused. “What do you mean?” 

Madge’s smile appeared, fleeting and nervous. “Did you grab a program?” He hadn’t, he admitted, so they grabbed a spare one from a nearby table. Madge opened it up to the center and there, listed as one of the performers, was her name. “Only two pieces,” she added, voice higher than Gale was used to, “but.” 

He turned to her with his eyes wide. “The piano?” he asked. 

“It’s been so long since I’ve performed for anyone,” Madge carried on, voice still high but also quieter. She was _nervous_. “My boss thinks someone’s actually going to bid on a private concert with me and we need the money wherever we can get it so--”

“I’ve never heard you play,” Gale murmured, surprised as he fits all the pieces together in his head. “You must have been practicing like crazy.”

She smiled knowingly. “Every day,” she told him. 

“You’re going to be amazing,” Gale promised. Madge softened again, her smile more familiar. “I mean that.”

“You’ve never heard me play,” she echoed. “How do you know?”

“You never half-ass anything.” Madge laughed. He wanted to linger in it, but he knew they couldn’t. “No rush,” Gale promised quietly. 

He bid her farewell and his heart felt lighter. Gale scanned the other performers and found that he was instantly looking forward to the night. There was a violinist, a few orchestra pieces being performed, only two songs from one woman singing something which Delly explained to him as _opera-adjacent, _a few others, and Madge. 

She was the second performer of the night, all performances in the far room so people could browse the auction items before entering, and Gale couldn’t wait for it.

At some point Peeta joined their group but Bristel texted that she wouldn’t make it. When Finnick and Annie appeared she told them that she’d practically had to drag him away from an abstract painting of the ocean that he’d fallen in love with. 

“I’d offered to pay market price if I could have it then and there but they said they had to check with someone,” Finnick explained, looking over his shoulder with a frustrated glare. 

“Did you see Madge is performing?” Annie asked, turning to him with the program. 

His anger eased immediately and he softened, smiling like something made sense to him all of a sudden. Gale understood the feeling. “No wonder she’s been so busy,” Finnick said, just in case it hadn’t processed for Gale yet.

After the director gave a welcoming speech they did some more bidding, taking their time to really see everything offered, just waiting for her to play. They hurried into the performance room when it was time, finding a close enough to the raised stage that they could see everything. Gale felt nervous for some reason, his friends chatting animatedly around him. He dug into his pocket and sent a quick text. 

**Gale  
**You’ll be great

**Madge  
**💞  
thank you

Moments later, she was being introduced. Gale clapped along with everyone else as they announced her credentials, all of which Gale was hearing for the first time, and watched as she settled onto the piano bench. They listed what her performance could be rented for: galas such as this, parties and special dinners, etc. etc. As she sat, poised, Gale couldn’t detect an ounce of nerves in her. 

And then she played. 

Gale didn’t know what to expect. He couldn’t say he anticipated the goosebumps but they were immediate and kept him still. He wanted to check the program to find the name of the piece she was playing but he couldn’t pull his eyes from her. It was something soft, something that felt like summer has been a ripened fruit on a tree, plucked and juiced down into song.

He was entranced. He’d never had a fascination with any instruments, really, but at once he’d never understood how he could have gone so long without it. She played classically, thoughtfully, perfectly, every note magic.

When her first piece ended he was overwhelmed. He wasn’t sure how he made it through the second. This one was faster, more delicate, notes that reminded him of hummingbirds darting up into the air and then diving down to flowers to find nectar. Like notes of birdsong, like… 

His chest felt tight. It was impossible, he knew, but he couldn’t help but think of his sister and her love for birds, and Madge playing this piece, and all of it wrapped together only made him more confident in his feelings, less afraid.

When she finished she was met with thunderous applause, that of which Gale contributed to. The emcee returned to thank Madge for her performance and instructed the crowd where they could find her bid sheet in the auction room. She was escorted off the stage and out of sight and Gale wanted to see her at once. 

Their friends gushed over her as they waited for Madge to reappear. Gale received a few elbow nudges but he didn’t have much to add to the conversation without sounding lovesick. He kept scanning the crowd for her but she appeared from the opposite direction and he missed her sneaking up. Everyone cheered at her arrival and Gale couldn’t contain his grin. 

“You were incredible!” Delly gushed.

“That was amazing,” Peeta agreed.

“We should get a piano at the house,” Thom added. “If you want. I mean, damn, Madge, seriously?” 

Still, Gale couldn’t find words. 

“Thanks everyone,” Madge murmured, looking both pale and pink. “That was exhausting.” She settled by Gale’s side, almost leaning into him. “Sorry for all the secrecy I just get so nervous.”

“It was worth it,” Gale finally said. She looked up to him, her smile brightening. 

She had to slip away again soon after and Gale let himself relax. He made another trip through the auction items and re-added his name where he got knocked off. Finnick had convinced them to sell him the painting at market rate to get it then and there and his smug smile didn’t fade the rest of the night. Gale checked Madge’s list and found a decent amount of names and organizations with interest in having her play. 

When she found him again, it was just as he’d started to miss her. With little words of greeting she grabbed his hand and pulled him from the ballrooms, into a nearby hallway that wasn’t as crowded. Seeing her again brought back the rush of feelings he’d had when she’d played. 

“I’m in awe of you,” he told her as they settled against a wall. “I never knew you could play like that.” 

“Thank you,” she exhaled.

He’d learned that Madge was special but this was something new entirely. He’d never known a person that dripped talent like she did, that created music with their fingertips so effortlessly. It was overwhelming for Gale in ways he couldn’t completely understand. She was an artist at her core and those with the ability to create had power Gale had never really encountered like this before. 

“I’m really speechless,” he murmured. Gale drew her in and Madge stepped forward, eyes wide. He lifted her hands and pressed his lips to her fingertips, wishing he knew what to say. “I can’t believe you can do that.” 

It wasn’t that he was shocked, he’d already known that she was talented. It was something else to bask in the presence of it. 

“I’m so glad it’s over,” she muttered. Gale shifted again and she was in his arms. Madge sighed as he wound himself around her, relaxing against him like she’d never worried that he could hold her. But they both knew it wouldn’t last. “Gale…” she started. 

He pulled back to give her space. “Listen,” he began. “I’m… sorry.” He gestured around them, his eyebrows pulling together in frustration. “I know how important this event was for you and I made things more complicated for you for no reason and--”

“Oh, God, Gale,” Madge stopped him, reaching for his hand again. “You never make things more complicated,” she murmured. “Okay?” 

He let Madge pull him back toward her. “We both know that isn’t true.”

This was the closest they’d been in days. Holding hands tucked just behind the big ballroom, close enough that Madge could dart away if she needed to but far enough that it was really just them. He’d missed her deeply.

Gale laced their fingers together and Madge tensed before echoing back, “For no reason?” 

He said he’d made things complicated for no reason but that wasn’t what he’d meant. “Well not no reason,” he corrected. “Just nothing that couldn’t wait.”

Madge looked down and shook her head. “It felt like I’d already been waiting for so long,” she whispered. 

Despite where they were Gale felt the world around him shift, clearing of everyone except him and Madge and the small space between them that no longer felt like miles. There were thousands of things he wanted to say. Apologies and promises of change and whispered assurances that there wasn’t any reason to wait any longer. Nothing would stick, nothing felt right. 

Eventually he said, “We don’t need to do this now.” 

The only way that he could interpret what Madge said was that she’d been wanting something like that to happen, that the kiss had meant something to her. But she said she needed until after the gala and despite all of the signs he was still so terrified that he had read all of this wrong. 

They were still holding hands and her grip started to slacken a little, her face tightening. 

“What’s wrong?” Gale asked.

“I don’t know,” she answered. “I…” Madge shook her head, keeping her eyes from him. “I’m just worried…” she trailed off but Gale couldn’t be sure what she was thinking.

“Worried about what?” he urged.

“That at the end of the day it’s not really me you’re thinking about,” she rushed. 

Gale didn’t hesitate. “It’s you I’m thinking about.” She exhaled softly but Gale shook his head, drawing her in. “Madge, it’s you who I’m thinking about.” Her eyes fell shut and he lowered his forehead to hers wishing she would look at him. “I get why you’re afraid, I do, I mean I am too in some ways, but it’s you. Easily,” he whispered. “It’s so annoying. I used to hate phone calls and now I always want to hear your voice.” She exhaled a laugh and her eyes eased open so Gale drew back just a touch. “Any time anything happens to me you’re the first person I want to talk to,” Gale carried on. “I have _two plants _now.” 

She laughed again and Gale grinned, but somehow the moment pulled them apart. Their hands fell away as Madge wound her arms around herself and she turned away, smile fading rapidly. 

Madge’s voice was small when she said, “If this is real then we’d have to tell her.”

Madge didn’t even need to say her name but he knew she was talking about Katniss. He knew that she would come up sooner or later, he just hadn’t realized how soon--that for Madge it had remained so urgent. 

Still, Gale couldn’t help but feel a little bit like someone had set off a firework in his chest. “I already did,” Gale confessed. “A couple of weeks ago.” 

“Weeks?” Madge startled. “But we only just…” she trailed off, eyes widening as he nodded in confirmation. This was something that he’d thought about. “Gale.” 

Of course he’d thought about it before their kiss. Gale had been longing for weeks, and despite it being new it had stopped surprising him. He’d told his friends. He’d talked about it with his mother. He’d confessed his feelings for Madge to Katniss because he knew that the way everyone was entwined was confusing and it was important to talk about it. 

“I know how I feel about you,” he said. “I have for a while now.” 

Her eyes were clear as she finally looked into his. “Me too,” she whispered back.

“Yeah?”

She nodded. 

“Oh, thank God,” Gale exhaled. 

He leaned down to kiss her and Madge pressed up, helping close the distance between them. They were both smiling so it wasn’t the most graceful kiss but it was perfect, like the songs she played earlier, like the colors of the ballroom, utterly perfect. 

When they parted it took Madge a moment to open her eyes. “This is going to be such a long night,” she murmured quietly.

Gale couldn’t stop himself from kissing her again.

* * *

Madge had to return to gala duties so Gale returned to their friends. They made plans for later; Madge would have to get the clean-up crew started that night but wouldn’t have to stay, and she’d come over to his apartment when she was finished. He wished the gala was already over.

Back with everyone else Gale tried to remain as neutral as possible but at the first mention of Madge’s name his smile was impossible to stop. He kept tight-lipped no matter how hard any of them pushed. 

When the night ended, Gale found himself the winner of two different auction items. A beautiful philodendron with large green leaves, and a gift certificate to a restaurant. Both good investments. 

“I can’t believe you,” Thom said as Gale claimed the plant. “You’re ridiculous. The most ridiculous man alive.”

“I think it’s sweet,” Delly gushed. 

Peeta, close enough to comment if he really wanted, gracefully kept his mouth shut. 

“Sap,” Finnick added with a grin.

Madge promised to text when she was actually leaving the gala but Gale still hurried home. He felt like he needed to tidy up and he also thought it would be great to have his new plant already stationed upon her arrival. When his mom texted him a question mark Gale sent back two thumbs up, to which Hazelle responded with three thumbs up of her own. 

It felt like he could breathe again. 

Gale knew there was still more to talk about, things to define, but he wasn’t afraid anymore. 

Eventually Madge texted that she was on her way. She knocked and let herself in upon arrival, calling out, “I’m here!” 

Gale, in the living room, stood and hurried to greet her. “Hi.”

Madge turned behind her and locked the door before leaning against it with a soft smile. “Hi,” she answered.

Unsure how to proceed he said, “I won a plant at the gala tonight.”

Madge burst into giggles, crossing the room to him quickly. They met in the middle. Gale opened his arms for her as she laughed, burying his face in his chest. 

Gale kept waiting for the nerves to reappear but they stayed distant as he welcomed Madge inside. She was exhausted, so after kicking off her heels Gale scooped her into his arms and carried her to his bedroom. She yelped as he lifted her from the ground and then laughed, winding herself around him as to not fall. When they got there he carefully deposited her on his mattress before following, falling in the open spot beside her. 

In between laughter she drew him in for a kiss that turned into two and three more, Gale propping himself up on his hand so he could lean over her to do so. They kissed like that for a long time, lazy, warm, Gale finding himself enjoying the way it already felt familiar. 

But eventually she murmured, “You have a t-shirt I can wear?” 

Gale hummed in response before climbing out of bed to dig through his dresser. Madge sat up as he did so, scooting to the edge of the mattress so she could more easily stand. When he found something from college he tossed it to her, grinning as she spotted their alma mater. 

“Go Capitol,” Gale joked. 

She turned and gestured to her back saying, “Could you help me with this?” 

Without hesitation he crossed to her. She lifted her hair for him and Gale leaned in to press a soft kiss to the back of her neck before tugging on the zipper. The straps of her dress slipped from her shoulders and she let the whole thing fall, pooling on the floor around her feet before turning back to him. 

She was so fucking beautiful. 

Madge stood in front of him wearing a matching set and the black fabric against her pale skin did nothing but make Gale dizzy. “Wow,” he murmured. 

She rolled her eyes but smiled a little before slipping the Capitol shirt over her head. “Too tired,” she said.

“Am I not allowed to say wow?” 

She unhooked her bra beneath the shirt and then dropped it to the ground before settling back on the edge of the bed. Her smile was mischievous and Gale was so goddamn enamored he didn’t even know where to start. 

“You’re allowed to say wow.”

Gale slowly started to unbutton his dress shirt. “I’ll say it a lot,” he told her. “Like…” he slid his shirt off of his shoulders and dropped it to the ground. “Wow, my girlfriend is so fucking talented.”

Madge’s eyebrows shot up her forehead and her smile grew. “Gale.” 

He peeled off his undershirt, leaving his chest bare before turning around to root around his dresser. That way he didn’t have to look at her as he re-settled the racing of his heart. “Or wow,” he offered as he found a pair of sweatpants. “Did I really just say girlfriend?” 

“_Gale_,” she laughed. It made his heart beat faster but he couldn’t care less. “Get over here.”

He swapped out his slacks for the sweats before joining her in bed. Madge tugged him toward her, her warm hands pressing into his sides his back. Everything about her made Gale ache with a heat he had worried he’d never really find again. He wanted to savor every moment just as badly as he wanted to rush through them. 

Her hands slid past his waistband and he gasped, rocking forward without meaning to. “Too tired?” he reminded her breathlessly. 

“Mmf.” She slid her hands back up and smiled as Gale pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Tomorrow.” He chuckled as he dropped into the open space beside her. Madge turned and they resettled, reaching for one another as if they’d timed it. “Together we’re wearing one full set of pajamas,” she told him. 

He laughed again. “Not really. It’s more like…” Gale cupped her cheek in his palm as he thought. Her in a Capitol shirt, him in sweats. “One full gym outfit?” 

Madge pressed forward to kiss she laughed too, both of them smiling into it. 

After they finally settled beneath the sheets, still twined in one another, Gale felt more content than he had in a long time. He twisted his fingers through her hair and she sighed, resting against him. 

“That one song you played,” he murmured, “it reminded me of birdsong.” 

Madge smiled. “Which one?” 

“The second.” He paused. “It made me think of Posy.”

She pulled back to better look at him and her smile grew. “Wow,” she said.

Gale’s heart flipped. “What?”

“It makes me think of you.” 

* * *

He woke to the sight of her golden hair fanned out in the pillow beside him. Gale sighed happily, readjusting his arms so he could pull Madge closer. She stirred a little as he did so and wiggled closer herself while sliding one of her legs between Gale’s. 

“Morning,” he murmured. Her response came as a soft hum. Madge’s hand fanned out across his side before slipping over to trace her fingers up his back. “Your hands are cold.”

She laughed, soft and breathy, before trailing her fingers up his spine. “Hi.”

“Hi.”

“Don’t you work?” she wondered sleepily. 

“I can work from home,” he answered. Madge pulled back from where she’d swaddled herself with her eyebrows furrowed together and her eyebrows still closed. Gale’s heart did a silly drop in his chest at the look. “I don’t do it that often. No one will care.”

“You can work from home and you don’t do it that often? You’re insane.”

“Well I don’t actually get any work done when I work from home,” he murmured. “That’s kinda my goal for the day.”

“Oh, love that. No need to do any work today.” 

Gale chuckled and drew her back in. She warmed her hands against his back and he breathed her in, savoring the morning as long as he could. Eventually he told Madge he’d need to get out of bed soon if they wanted breakfast. 

“You gonna cook for me?” she asked. 

“Mm, I was planning to.”

She poked his bare chest. “Really pulling out all the stops, aren’t you?”

“You’re worth it,” he murmured back.

“Oh my God.”

He snatched a quick kiss before grinning and climbing out of bed. After pulling on a shirt Gale told her he’d let her know when the coffee was ready and that she could keep resting if she’d like. 

In the kitchen after starting a pot for coffee he dug through his refrigerator, thankful he’d gone grocery shopping earlier that week. He was halfway through checking his email on his phone when Madge wandered out to join him, his comforter draped around her shoulders. She settled down at the kitchen table while Gale mixed a mug of the now-ready coffee for her, and soon enough the two of them were enjoying pancakes topped with strawberries together. 

“I love this philodendron,” she told him. He’d placed it in his kitchen window and with the morning light pouring in it looked more beautiful than the night before. “Like I almost bid on it myself.”

“It was an expensive philodendron,” Gale said.

“Good. We’re broke.”

Gale chuckled, glancing over his shoulder to look at it. “Glad I could help,” he told her. 

“Did you have fun?” she asked. 

“At the gala?” He reached across the table to grab her hand in response, nodding as he did so. She smiled and twisted her hand back so they could lace their fingers together. “It was my first,” he told her. “Sometimes my firm’ll throw big parties but I can’t say I’ve ever been to a _gala _before.”

“It was like, a fake gala.”

“It was not a fake gala,” Gale said with a laugh. “We had to dress up. There were performances. That’s real.”

“Fine, fine.” He tugged her hand toward him and leaned in to kiss the back of her palm. “I can’t believe it’s over.”

“When’s your next big work thing? Not for a while, I hope?”

“No, not for a while,” she agreed. She drew her hand back so she could hold her mug again. “Could I shower here? You don’t use two-in-one shampoo, do you?” 

Gale laughed. “What if I do?”

“Gale. Please tell me you don’t use two-in-one shampoo and conditioner.”

“I don’t. I use three-in-one shampoo conditioner _and _body wash.”

She forced a gasp. “_No_.” She stood at once. “I have to check.”

Gale laughed again as she hurried out of the kitchen to his bathroom. When she left he grabbed his phone and opened it to find himself in a new group chat, with just Thom and Delly. 

**Thom  
**We’re attempting to throw something together for Madge tonight to celebrate yesterday do you think you can keep her busy until 6 or so?

**Gale  
**Probably

**Delly  
**you have PLENTY of ways to keep her busy gale hawthorne 

**Gale  
**For Christ’s sake Delly

**Delly  
**I’m JUST SAYING

**Thom  
**Seconded

**Gale  
**I should’ve blocked you both when I had the chance

**Thom  
**(;

When Madge returned she had his two separate bottles of shampoo and conditioner in her hands. “Don’t scare me like that,” she reprimanded, pointing one of the bottles at him. 

His heart sang and his smile grew. Gale didn’t know what he did to deserve her, but he sure was happy he did.

* * *

Gale straightened up his place as Madge showered. 

He made his bed, did the dishes, Googled how to take care of a philodendron, etc. He was sitting on the couch when she returned to him, hair damp, wearing one of his long-sleeved t-shirts as a top. 

“Thanks for that,” she said as she returned.

“Sure.” He wasn’t sure if he’d ever get used to the sight of her in his clothes. “Nice shirt.”

Madge grinned as she crossed the room to him. “Thanks. Hey,” she started. 

“Yeah?”

Madge strode right to where Gale was sitting before resting her hands on his shoulders and climbing onto his lap. “It’s tomorrow.”

He laughed as she settled on top of him but his heart began to race.

Even though he knew they were on the same page, that they felt the same for one another, it felt like it was happening so quickly. This was still unfamiliar with her, this intimacy, this side of her, and now that he knew he could actually have it Gale craved it more than he’d realized. 

One of her hands shifted to Gale’s hair and he leaned forward to press a warm kiss to her throat. The soft exhale she gave in response made Gale’s heart hitch again. 

“I enjoy you,” she murmured.

Gale’s mouth curved into a grin and he pressed another kiss to her neck, closer to her collarbone. She eased closer to him, her hold around his hips tightening slightly as she lifted her other hand to his hair as well. 

“Great,” he murmured back, trying to keep his cool despite the fact that Madge absolutely heard the happy hitch in his voice. “I like being enjoyed.” 

Madge pulled back and slid her hands to cup his cheeks instead. The smile she donned was small and sweet and smug all at once. He couldn’t control his own smile, letting it stretch into a grin as the two of them looked at one another. 

He leaned forward to kiss her and she didn’t hesitate to meet him halfway. It was true that kissing someone new was always exciting but this was different. Kissing Madge was like remembering how to breathe again, was like having a drink of water after days of dehydration. Not only did it make his heart pound but it felt as though his chest become a void that had cracked open, desperate to suck in as much of this feeling as possible.

She hadn’t only awoken something in him that he thought had died--something he thought he’d never feel again--but it was better than before in ways he hadn’t even realized possible. Madge wanted him back the same way he wanted her. To be in that, to be with a woman who wasn’t hiding or playing games, to be with a woman who climbed onto his lap and said _I enjoy you_, it was something new. 

Gale thought maybe this was what it was supposed to feel like. 

* * *

That evening, after Thom texted Gale that they’d be ready around 6, Gale proposed a drive. They’d spent their day in various locations in Gale’s house, mostly either his bed or the couch in the living room, and Madge mentioned that she was ready to stretch her legs. She’d gone right from work to the gala the day before so she had a small bag with the clothes she’d been wearing earlier, and she changed back into them before they actually left.

“You don’t want to go in public wearing my shirt as a dress?” he had teased her. 

They climbed into his truck and drove around with the windows down. The sun was only just beginning to set and Gale already knew that the sunset was going to be phenomenal. He gave Madge the AUX cord and she only played one Glee song and the two of them laughed as they wound their way through the city.

“Do you want to stay with me again tonight?” Gale asked after already re-routing them toward Thom’s. 

“Do you want me to stay with you again tonight?” Madge returned.

“Yeah. But I don’t want to suffocate you.” She reached over to him and gave him a poke, which only made him smile. “Your call.” 

Madge poked him again, smiling herself. “I’ll stay with you,” she told him.

It was reason enough for them to swing by her place so she could get some real clothing for the following day. Gale didn’t know to what extent Thom and Delly had gone in making this a surprise and he was honestly impressed when he pulled down the long driveway to find it empty. 

“Did you tell Thom?” Madge asked as Gale parked.

“Tell Thom what?”

“About us. This.” 

Gale cut the engine. “In general? Or last night?”

“About now,” she said. “_Boyfriend_.”

His chest burned and he couldn’t fight his grin. “Not in so many words. Did you tell Delly?”

“Duh.”

Gale laughed while they climbed out of his truck. “Thom’s known,” Gale told her. He shot Thom a quick text to let him know that they had arrived. “He knew maybe before I did, actually.”

Madge rolled her eyes but her smile remained. “Delly too.”

“They’re the worst.”

Madge pushed her way into the house first, Gale a step behind her, and the force of the sound of people yelling _Surprise! _actually startled him. Madge jumped, flustered, but the crowd that had gathered in the entryway were all clapping and cheering for her. 

“Oh my God,” Madge muttered, turning back to face him. “Did you know about this?”

Gale smirked. “Who, me?”

She pursed her lips to keep her smile from growing, attempting to maintain the illusion of anger a moment longer before her grin took over her face. Delly rushed forward for a hug and someone popped a bottle of champagne and there was laughter, bright and warm and perfect.

Madge was quickly swept up into the celebration, first insisting that she didn’t need one and that all of this wasn’t necessary, before Johanna convinced them all to do shots. Quickly the surprise party shifted from the entryway to the backyard where Gale and Thom worked together to build a bonfire in the firepit. 

“You threw this together pretty fast,” Gale said as they built out the fire. 

“We’d been planning it for a few weeks,” Thom admitted. Everyone was there. Darius and Johanna and Bristel and Finnick and Annie and Katniss and Peeta and none of it felt weird. “She’s worked so hard, you know?”

Gale bumped elbows with his friend, and Thom bumped him back, the two of them smiling at one another. Gale shoved Thom a little harder and said, “I know. Stop it.”

“You stop it,” Thom laughed, shoving him back.

“You both stop it,” Delly reprimanded as she joined them. “There are literally flames here.” 

Thom moved away from Gale and closer to Delly, draping his arm over her shoulders before pulling her closer. Gale couldn’t help but look for Madge. His eyes scanned the backyard and the first person he found instead was Katniss, looking right at him.

His smile flickered.

“We _know _there are flames here,” Thom said, not noticing Gale’s shift. “That’s why we were pushing each other.”

“That is _not funny_.”

“I’ll be back,” Gale murmured. He edged quietly away from the fire without objection and went straight for Katniss. He was surprised to see her here, if he was being honest. She hadn’t been at the gala for some reason and hadn’t spoken to Gale much since he told her about Madge. “Hey,” he greeted.

“Hey.”

“You’re here.”

“Here I am,” she agreed. He shoved his hands into his back pockets. “I heard the gala was really nice,” Katniss said after a few moments of silence. “I had something for Prim or else I would’ve been there too.”

Gale shrugged a little. Maybe it was for the best that she wasn’t there, but he wouldn’t say that. 

“Well it’s nice you’re here now,” he said. 

Gale knew that showing up for one another would look different in the future, but there certainly was a small part of him that was glad she’d made it tonight. It didn’t have to be anything other than that. 

“Thanks,” Katniss returned quietly. 

The silence that followed was awkward, but it wasn’t painful. “You want a beer?” Gale offered.

“Nah, I’m okay.” 

“Okay.” He tipped his head at her as if to say _I’ll see you, then, _and she nodded back. 

When Gale left her to get his drink, he actually felt settled. Maybe the two of them would never get back the closeness that they had before this mess, but at least they had something. It was a start. 

Gale weaved his way through the party saying hello to friends here and there. When he finally found Madge again she was in the kitchen, digging through the freezer. She glanced over her shoulder when she heard the floor creak and smiled, turning back to face him quickly.

“Hey!” she greeted.

“What are you looking for?” 

“Chocolate bars,” she answered. “We normally keep a few in the back.” Madge stood and revealed she had found a few. “Gonna make some s’mores.” She crossed the room to where he stood in the doorway and pressed herself on her toes for a kiss. 

Gale drew her in, his hands on her hips. “I’ve got a secret talent,” he told her.

She pressed her forehead to his chest and laughed. “What is it?” 

“I can make the perfect s’more.”

Madge wound herself around him, laughing some more. “Prove it.” 

“I’ll make you one,” Gale offered. He slid his hands up her back and she melted into him, the two of them finally with a moment alone. It felt easy to do this with her. “If you want. Golden marshmallow and everything.” 

“Mmm.” He chuckled, propping his chin up on the top of her head. “Yeah, okay. But I _also _can make the perfect s’more.”

“Is that so?” Gale asked, drawing his words out.

“Mm-hm. Golden marshmallow and _everything_.” They shifted apart, still holding one another but enough that they could look into each other’s eyes as they shared a smile. “And I know mine is better.”

“You do _not _know,” Gale said.

“Do so,” she teased.

“You haven’t tried mine yet.”

“But I’ve tried mine, which is perfect.”

He leaned in to kiss her another time, unable to control the wild beat of his heart. “You’re probably right,” he murmured. “But I’m gonna make you prove it.”

Madge kissed him again, her grin never wavering. “I will.”

“I have no doubt.” 

She laughed again, pressing her face back into his chest, and the two of them swayed a little where they stood. Gale slowly dragged his hands back up her back and she sighed deeply as Madge fit herself against him. 

Later, after a few s’mores, after all of their friends went home and Thom and Delly popped another bottle of champagne for just the four of them, after the fire burned itself down into nothing but embers, they’d find their way back to Gale’s apartment for another night of sleep. But now they stood, holding one another close with no reason to rush. They had the rest of the weekend to savor moments like this.

And then, hopefully, every day after that. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading and for all of the love! i hope you enjoyed it and would love to hear your thoughts <3

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me on twitter/tumblr @jennybeantime. thanks for reading!


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